ARMAGH defender Conor O’Neill is expected to miss the remainder of the League with a groin injury.
The Killeavy clubman pulled up in the first half of Saturday night’s one-point loss against Kerry in Tralee and it is understood that he will not feature in the Orchard county’s remaining three games in Division One.
O’Neill joins a long injury list. Armagh were without Rory Grugan (hamstring) last weekend and the Ballymacnab playmaker joined Oisin O’Neill, Ben Crealey, Ciaran Higgins, Aidan Nugent, Mark Shields, Niall Rowland and Stephen Sheridan (who took part in the warm-up but wasn’t in the match squad) on the sidelines. James Morgan is another who hasn’t featured.
With a massive support cheering them on at Austin Stack Park, Armagh opened a two-point lead in the second half and an unexpected away win looked on the cards at that stage. However, the home side finished an attritional affair on the front foot and did enough to take the victory and move above Armagh in the claustrophobic Division One table.
It was an emotional night for Kerry coach Jason McGahan. The Tullysaran native, a former Armagh minor player, had to put county loyalties to one side and do what he could to get his adopted Kerry over the line.
“It was a tough one and it was a tough game – it could have gone either way,” said the highly-rated, Killarney-based coach who left the ground being cajoled by fans in green and gold: “Good man Jason, you’re a Kerry man now!”
“It was an emotional one,” he added.
“I was glad to see the (Kerry) boys getting over the line at the end and getting the result because we needed it.
“Coming towards the end we had a bit more composure in front of the posts and once Armagh were coming out to chase the game we got a few breaks and Donal O’Sullivan got that score at the end to win it for us.”
Tyrone, Sam Maguire winners in 2021, found out last year that the crown can weigh heavily on the All-Ireland champions. Kerry started 2023 with a loss-win-loss sequence in Division One so victory on Saturday night was essential for them to steady the ship.
McGahan says Jack O’Connor’s Kingdom squad has no intention on resting on last year’s laurels. Kerry, he says, want to stay on top: “We’re always looking for ways to raise the bar and change things up.
“We always want to take another step forward and we don’t want to be satisfied with what we’ve done. The boys are very motivated, they don’t just want to sit with one All-Ireland. They want to drive on and they’re very hungry.
“The likes of Stefan Okunbur (back after a spell in Aussie Rules with Geelong) is back in with us now and he has put his head down and worked hard and it was good to see him getting a start and then, to put in the performance he did, was excellent.
McGahan won’t be far from home next weekend. Kerry head north for Sunday’s round five clash with Tyrone in Omagh.
“Back home next week and I’m looking forward to that,” he said.
“Hopefully we can get the result against Tyrone as well.”
All-Ireland winners Paul Geaney and Gavin White are back in training but Sunday’s fixture against a Tyrone side that will be desperate for two points on home soil could be too soon for them.
Beating Armagh, and moving out of the relegation zone, was a confidence-booster for Kerry and manager O’Connor hopes that edging a game that could have gone either way will be the turning point of the Kingdom’s season.
“If we can get two more points and get to safety we might look back at this,” he said.
“But at the moment our focus is on winning at least two more points and staying in this division.”
