Maurice Fitzgerald may be part of Peter Keane’s team
They had word of Peter Keane’s appointment in the wards of Kerry University Hospital after lunch yesterday — but there will be no confirmation from the Kerry County Board of the decision until Monday night’s scheduled meeting in Tralee.
revealed yesterday that Keane has been approved as the preferred choice of the four-person executive sub-committee set up in the wake of Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s departure in August, and while Keane won’t be present, his management team will be announced to delegates Monday.
Keane is two years younger than his Caherciveen neighbour Maurice Fitzgerald – Keane was a Kerry minor in 1989, Fitzgerald 1987 – but they could be on the same sideline together again next season with Fitzgerald possibly involved in the new set-up as a selector, maintaining a link with Fitzmaurice’s outgoing management group.
Keane will finalise his backroom team this weekend, with close attention being paid to whether coach Donie Buckley will be involved.
It is understood Buckley, who served briefly as a coach under Jack O’Connor’s Kerry management, in 2012, is keen to be involved again with his native county — in the right circumstances and with the right management team.
There is room for at least one more selector, with Declan O’Sullivan and Seamus Moynihan offering impressive credentials. Keane is also likely to draft in a new strength and conditioning coach.
Jason McGahan, the Armagh man who was part of Fitzmaurice’s backroom team in 2014 before Cian O’Neill whisked him away to Kildare, has been mentioned, but he has just started a new job in Limerick IT, and is moving from Cork back to Dublin, it is understood.
Peter Keane has an impressive track record at Croke Park. He led St Mary’s, Caherciveen to an All-Ireland Club JFC title in 2011 and led the Kerry minors to the last three championship successes. His only club experience at senior level was a two-year stint with Legion in Killarney, but in the second of those seasons, he led them to a first county final in 69 years, where they lost in a replay to his native South Kerry.
