They can hardly hang around forever. They’ve been doing their best but maybe it’s time.
Kerry bowed out of the All-Ireland championship on Sunday, eliminated for the second season in a row at the hands of Dublin – one score shy of them again.
It’s been a monumental tilt for the Kingdom in the past three years. When it looked like they were being left behind at the start of the decade, Éamonn Fitzmaurice came in and dragged Kerry into the new era.
They ended a drought of sorts in 2014 when they won their first Sam in five years from virtually nowhere – with everyone writing them off. They were edged out in a slug-fest final last season and were pipped at the post in one of the finest contests in living memory at the weekend.
They haven’t been left behind but it’s taken a serious effort to keep pace.
The old era Gaelic footballer versus the new species#GAA pic.twitter.com/CViRsejPIl
— Conán Doherty (@ConanDoherty) August 29, 2016
After another massive rattle, Kerry’s season ends in Croke Park having laid their hearts on their line for the cause.
You wonder how much longer the older guard can keep doing it.
The team is in no way reliant on them anymore. Marc Ó Sé was only introduced with three minutes of normal time remaining. Kieran Donaghy wasn’t that effective. Bryan Sheehan was saved for the final 10 as well. It’s not like they’re dependent on the experienced crew and maybe that might persuade some of them to step aside now.
In his column with Independent.ie, Tomás Ó Sé certainly thinks that it could be the end of the road for some of the county’s finest servants. But, even if they are brothers, he’s only observing what he sees with Marc just like the rest of us.
“The result will likely spark plenty of change in Kerry,” Ó Sé writes in Independent.ie. “Marc and Donaghy were out on the pitch after the game with the kids and it looked like they were having one last look at the place. It might be the end of O’Mahony too and a few others.
“If it is, they have done Kerry a great service and they deserve plenty of plaudits. But I don’t think for a minute that this means Kerry will go into transition.
“There’s still a great core of a squad there and they have built up a nice bank of experience now. They have a taste of winning and will want more. And as you saw in the minor game there is some talented young fellas coming up through the ranks.”
Sunday certainly didn’t feel like the end for Kerry. Maybe just the end of the beginning.
It might’ve been the end for some though.
Respect pic.twitter.com/DzvRWhSUvq
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) August 29, 2016
Whatever will be, their legends will bow out as just that – legends. They’ll go with their heads held high, their All-Ireland medals in their pockets and their respect earned. They’ll go with the best wishes of Gaels everywhere.
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