‘The physios will be busy' – Jack O'Connor concerned amid Kerry injury crisis surrounding All-Star players
KERRY could be facing an injury crisis for the All-Ireland SFC Group 2 decider against Meath.
Kingdom boss Jack O'Connor was forced to use three subs by half-time in their
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Not ideal for Jack O'Connor coming into the crunch end of the season
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Diarmuid O'Connor is already ruled out of Kerry's next match against Meath
Barry Dan O'Sullivan was withdrawn after 21 minutes with a knee injury and Paudie Clifford departed ten minutes later due to a hamstring issue.
Another man who failed to reappear for the second half was Paul Geaney, who damaged his shoulder in a collision with Seán Walsh.
Kerry flexed their muscles nonetheless as they racked up 0-21 in the second half to seal a 1-28 to 0-20 win. However, the victory may have come at a cost. O'Connor admitted: 'The physios will be busy now for a while.'
The Kerry chief has already ruled Diarmuid O'Connor out of the meeting with Meath after he was marked absent for Saturday's trip to Leeside.
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Having been out with a shoulder injury, O'Connor only returned from a two-month lay-off in the
He explained: 'Even in the Roscommon game, he went down two or three times. He's had a bit of an issue with a groin that's going to keep him out for a bit.
'His shoulder needs continual kind of maintenance, but at the moment his groin is giving him bother. I don't know, I'm not a medical man, but you wouldn't be looking at him for the next game.'
While his options in midfield would be reduced by the unavailability of Diarmuid O'Connor and O'Sullivan, the Kerry manager was encouraged by how Mark O'Shea affected the game after being called upon.
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Kerry's subs had a significant impact too. Dylan Geaney, Killian Spillane and Tony Brosnan chipped in with 0-5 between them.
Jack said: 'It's testament to the boys who came on, the likes of Mark O'Shea there.
Tipperary GAA star 'had to do live apology on RTE' the day after cursing during All-Ireland interview -
'He gave us a great platform in the middle of the field. He caught some great ball and that's great for him.
'You lose one man, another comes in and grows. That's great for the morale of the panel. They all contributed. Killian came on at half-time and kicked two great scores.
'Tony came on and kicked a great two-pointer. Dylan is a good footballer and he showed his class when he came on. We needed them all.'
ROYALS RUMBLE
While Kerry are already assured of a place in the knockout stages, a ticket to an All-Ireland quarter-final will be at stake when they face Meath at a yet-to-be-confirmed neutral venue on the weekend of June 14-15.
The Munster champions will seal top spot by avoiding defeat.
The Royals have rebounded from their
And they can advance directly to the last eight at the Kingdom's expense if they cause their second seismic upset of the season, having already stunned Dublin.
O'Connor said: 'I was up at the Leinster final. I saw them live. I thought that on the day they looked to have better individual players than Louth.
'But Louth had a very orchestrated system that got them through the game and if Meath had that game all over again, they'd man-mark Sam Mulroy. He ran the game.
'I think Meath have some very good individual players, so that'll be no easy game for us. And obviously it looks now like we'll be down a few players so we'll be dipping into our reserves.'
SCORERS — Kerry: D Clifford 1-8, 2f, 1tp; S O'Shea 0-9, 3tpf; P Geaney 0-2, T O'Sullivan 0-2, 1tp, K Spillane 0-2, T Brosnan 0-2; P Clifford 0-1, G O'Sullivan 0-1, D Geaney 0-1. Cork: B Hurley 0-7, 2f; M Cronin 0-6, 5f; P Walsh 0-3; C O'Callaghan 0-2; C Óg Jones 0-1, R Deane 0-1
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