PAIDI O SE has selected an unchanged team for Kerry's clash with Armagh on Sunday in the first of the Bank of Ireland football championship semi-finals. The manager has kept faith with the 15 players who comprehensively over-ran Clare in the Munster final. It means that that Maurice Fitzgerald will once again sit among the substitutes.
After Kerry's All-Ireland winning run in 1997, it would have been inconceivable that Kerry might embark on another championship run using their brilliant forward only sparingly. However, such has been the form of the Kerry front six during Fitzgerald's protracted battles with injury, it is difficult for the selectors to replace any of them at this point.
All six made the score sheet against Clare, running up impressive totals. John Crowley, the Glenflesk man, was in particularly devastating form, hitting 1-3 along with Aodhan Mac Gearailt. Liam Hassett finished with 1-1. The forwards combined for 3-13 in what turned out to be a stroll against Clare.
In the Munster semi-final, they were similarly sharp, with full forward Dara O Cinneide finishing with 2-5, albeit with the help of a pair of penalties and four frees. Again, all six forwards scored from play that day, with O Cinneide and Noel Kennelly splitting the free-taking duties.
It could be argued that Fitzgerald's absence has, in some way, strengthened the overall balance of the Kerry attack in that the squad as a whole can no longer rely on his rare talent as a crutch. That Paidi O Se has been able to spring him from the bench against both Clare and Cork has been of immense value and it is also certain that he will feature at some point during Sunday's semi-final.
Fitzgerald's summer parallels that of Armagh's own talisman, Diarmuid Marsden, who has also regained fitness but is also likely to start among the substitutes. His absence has also led to other forwards stepping up and playing with more authority.
In the build up to Sunday's game, there were rumours that Crowley would be unable to take his place due to a troublesome leg strain, but he was deemed fit enough at training last night.
The defence is also beginning to take on a settled look after the calamitous mid-season departure of full back Barry O'Shea, out for a year with a severe cruciate injury. Seamus Moynihan's versatility has allowed him to fill the considerable void left by the Tralee man.
Talented though the Kerry defenders are individually, they are collectively not as cohesive as the unit that formed the backbone of the 1997 team. In this season's league semi-final against Meath and in the second half against Cork, they fell into disarray.
However, although they will be facing calibre forwards in Oisin McConville, Tony McEntee and Cathal O'Rourke, Armagh have not amassed any frightening totals over the course of this campaign.
KERRY: D O'Keeffe; K Burns, S Moynihan, M McCarthy; T O Se, E Fitzmaurice, T O'Sullivan; D O Se, D Daly; A MacGearailt, L Hassett, N Keneally; MF Russell, D O Cinneide, J Crowley. Subs: P O'Leary, M Fitzgerald, M Hassett, D O'Dwyer, T Griffin, M Lyons, K Dillon, S O'Sullivan.
