He’s already described it as the most perfectly-scripted season of his life and now Kieran Donaghy is just one victory away from taking over the Kerry football captaincy for 2015.
Kerry are one of the last counties to still adhere to the tradition of awarding the nomination of their football captaincy to the winners of their county championship. On Sunday, Donaghy played a key role in helping his club, Austin Stacks, progress to the county final, where they will meet divisional side Mid Kerry.
That final is set for Sunday week – the venue to be confirmed – and finds Austin Stacks seeking a first county title since 1994. Donaghy, who scored 0-2 and set up several scores in the seven-point win over Dingle, is the only member of the Tralee club to play in Kerry’s All-Ireland win over Donegal last month, and should they win on Sunday week – for what would be a 12th title in all – then he’s effectively guaranteed to be nominated as captain.
Mid Kerry eased past Shannon Rangers on Sunday, 1-12 to 0-7, with All-Ireland winners Darran O’Sullivan and Donnchadh Walsh showing well. Mid Kerry last won the title in 2008 (only their fourth), and that resulted in O’Sullivan getting the Kerry captaincy for the following year (when they also won the All-Ireland). That would suggest Walsh would likely be nominated this time, should they win.
However, as a divisional team, Mid Kerry are not eligible to represent the county in the Munster club championship. Instead, the winners of the Kerry club championship would represent the county, in this case either Dr Crokes or Killarney Legion, who will meet in that final this Sunday.
Semi-final byes
What is certain is that whichever club does go on to represent Kerry in the Munster football championship will benefit from a bye into the semi-finals. They were due to play the winners of the Tipperary championship on the weekend of November 8th/9th, but due to a backlog in that championship – the result of Tipperary playing in the All-Ireland hurling final replay, and an extended run of the footballers in the All-Ireland qualifiers – Tipperary won’t have decided their champions by that stage, leaving them with no choice but to award the Kerry champions a walkover.
There will be one quarter-final, with Limerick champions Ballylanders meeting Stradbally or the Nire from Waterford, with the winners there meeting Clare champions Cratloe in one semi-final. The Kerry champions will meet in the Cork champions, either Ballincolling or Carbery Rangers, in the other semi-final.
It has also been confirmed Wexford won’t finish their county football championship in time to meet their date in the Leinster club championship. They were due to meet the Laois champions on November 2nd, and even with the promise of an extra week, if necessary, such is the backlog of fixtures the county final itself may well extend even further into November.
