Last summer GAA pundit Martin Carney described Kerry’s Munster semi-final defeat to Cork as the “day the music died” for a generation of Kerry footballers.
Ruthlessly banished to the qualifiers by a strong Cork team in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, the rest of the summer was not particularly glorious for the Kingdom.
Kerry barely scraped past Westmeath at Cusack Park in Round 2, relying on a stirring second half comeback to overturn a six point deficit.
They did find some vestige of form to oust Tyrone and Clare to reach the All Ireland quarter-finals. But that is where their challenge ended at the hands of eventual champions Donegal. The two point margin of defeat was quite flattering for Jack O’Connor’s men with Donegal well in control.
With a need for change, O’Connor left his post for the second time in August to be replaced by Eamonn Fitzmaurice.
Crushing blow
The 2013 campaign started off in encouraging fashion for Fitzmaurice as Kerry claimed the McGrath Cup with relative ease as young players like Jack Sherwood and Paul Geaney got a run out.
But that optimism has been dealt a crushing blow after consecutive defeats at the start of the Allianz League campaign. The Kingdom was comfortably beaten away by Mayo and by Dublin in Killarney, failing to score in the entire second half against the Connacht champions albeit with a man down.
But back to Carney’s assertion that Kerry’s tune has been muted. Fitzmaurice claims there is no need to panic, citing absent players.
He does have a point in that regard. Colm ‘The Gooch’ Cooper was not available for selection because of club commitments with Dr Crokes in the All Ireland Club Championship while 33-year-old Paul Galvin was involved in the Intermediate Club Championship with Finuge.
Time and patience
But elsewhere on the panel, Fitzmaurice is still trying to bed in a new generation of players like James Walsh and Mikey Geaney who will need time and patience.
But one statistic is telling in its own right. Kerry have scored just four points in their last 105 minutes of football – a result of lacklustre and sluggish performances particularly in the forward line given that only two of those four scores came from play.
Last year triple-All Ireland winner and Kerry legend, Dara O’Cinneide called for a game plan more suited to the Kingdom’s strengths – more forward-thinking kicking from deep as opposed to sterile hand passing that was in evidence in 2012.
That may need some attention but whatever Fitzmaurice truly believes in private, he is right not to go into panic mode so early in his reign as he rebuilds the Kingdom.
With new players bedding into a side in transition, he will have his eyes firmly fixed on the bigger picture which is to have a team consistently challenging for All Ireland’s in the medium to long-term and regardless of the defeats and performances in the first few weeks of the league, signs of progress or decline may not be evident for another few months at least.
A more realistic target for Kerry may be a possible Munster final date against Cork on July 7th. Of course both sides will have to survive the journey to that decider but the Kingdom will be confident of getting past Tipperary and Waterford.
And if Conor Counihan’s Cork – who have also started the league in faltering fashion - join them there, the meeting of Kingdom and Rebel will go far in explaining how far Kerry have risen or fallen.
