AS HE prepares Kerry for a 16th consecutive appearance in an All-Ireland quarter-final - one they will have to do without Colm Cooper for - Kerry manager Eamon Fitzmaurice believes there is a lack of respect being shown to fellow quarter-finalists Clare and Tipperary.
He feels this is unfair as it is solely on the basis of the Kingdom’s Championship results against the same two sides thus far in the campaign: “Both teams have gone on to show the quality they have. I was thinking about it this morning actually. Of the teams that played in Division One this year, only two haven’t been beaten by a team from a lower division - ourselves and Dublin,” the Kerry boss said ahead of Sunday’s meeting with the Banner county in Croke Park.
“The other six have all been beaten by teams in lower divisions. I think that shows the work that is going in by some counties, particularly in Clare and Tipperary, the progress they have made and the wins they have had.
“There was a reaction after the weekend results, when it was confirmed that we were playing Clare, words like ‘farcical’ were being used and that we were inside in an All-Ireland semi-final without having played the game. Again, I found that disrespectful to Clare, in particular, given they had got to an All-Ireland quarter-final on merit, having played three tough games.”
Last weekend saw Fitzmaurice travel to Kingspan Breffni Park for the second consecutive year, but in the same way it didn’t work out as planned in terms of Fermanagh beating Kerry’s expected opponents last year in Westmeath, Tipperary’s victory over Derry was another fly in the ointment.
The Kingdom boss explained his reasons for travelling to Cavan, however: “I was anxious to see Derry in case they were the team we played because they were the unknown quantity in being the one team we haven’t played this year as opposed to having played Clare and Roscommon twice already,” he said.
“Diarmuid [Murphy] and myself were in Breffni Park, while Mikey [Sheehy], Liam [Hassett] and Padraig [Corcoran, team trainer] were in Salthill for the Clare and Roscommon match,” he said.
On the injury front, Fitzmaurice confirmed Cooper will not be back in time from the shoulder injury sustained in their Munster final win over Tipperary, while his Dr Croke’s club-mate Johnny Buckley and Dingle’s Mikey Geaney are also out of Sunday’s match. One positive, though, is the return of Peter Crowley from the broken nose that ruled him out of the provincial decider.
What difference does Fitzmaurice expect to see from Clare in Croke Park on Sunday: “I don’t think a huge pile has changed. Similar to the way they played against us, they have had a go in all the games they have played,” he said.
“Some of the games have been tight, the game against Laois was tight and they put up a big score against Sligo. The last day, they played very well again and probably should have scored even a bit more than they did. I think they are playing with fierce energy and verve. They’ve confidence too given they have three wins under their belt.
“If I didn’t say it after our Munster semi-final meeting, we were definitely commenting amongst ourselves afterwards that we thought Clare would be around for the summer because they have a lot of good footballers.
“They play attractive football, they are well coached and they have had a great run of it through the Qualifiers and I think it has really suited them. They scored 17 points against us in Killarney and created goal chances.
"We certainly respect them, but there is a general lack of respect out there for their achievements.”
