MARC Ó SÉ fears Kerry could pay the price for being caught in the middle.
During a hugely successful playing career, Ó Sé’s brother Darragh established himself as one of Gaelic football’s all-time great midfielders.
He won six All-Ireland SFC titles and four All-Star awards before stepping away in 2009.
And younger sibling Marc insisted: “The whole of the county has missed Darragh. What have we won since he retired? Two All-Irelands? That’s alarming from a Kerry point of view.
“They say you never replace certain players. When Gooch retired, we replaced him with David Clifford perhaps.
“But with Darragh, I just don’t think we properly replaced him for the longevity he gave for 16, 17 years. It’s a needy area for Kerry at the moment.”
David Moran, who was honoured for the second time in 2019, remains the only Kerry player to have claimed an All-Star at midfield in the last eight seasons.
But he retired from inter-county football after the All-Ireland triumph of 2022.
And Jack Barry, who started alongside Moran in that Sam Maguire showpiece against Galway, has since emigrated to Australia.
Kerry’s options in the middle eight have been further depleted by Cillian Burke’s move to AFL club Geelong and the retirements of Adrian Spillane and Stephen O’Brien.
Cathal Ó Beaglaoich was in line for a chance to impress alongside Diarmuid O’Connor in the NFL Division 1 opener against Donegal on Sunday, only for the An Ghaeltacht midfielder’s debut to be put on hold after the game was postponed.
Three-time All-Star defender Ó Sé continued: “My God, if you look at the three fellas who have gone, Cillian Burke to Australia, Spillane, Stephen O’Brien – you’re down three half-forwards from last year.
“When you won the All-Ireland three years ago, you had the bones of five midfielders togged on the given day.
“You had Diarmuid O’Connor at wing-forward who could play midfield, Joe O’Connor came off the bench, you had Jack Barry, David Moran and you had Stefan Okunbor – five fellas who could play in the middle of the field.
“You don’t have that luxury at the moment unfortunately.
“We have a young fella from An Ghaeltacht at the moment who was supposed to get his opportunity but unfortunately the game was called off. It really is a needy area for Kerry.”
The Kingdom seemed to have unearthed a midfield maestro when Mark O’Connor captained the county’s minors to All-Ireland success in 2015.
AFL ATTRACTION
But the Dingle ace, now 28, was also lured away by the prospect of a professional career. He helped Geelong win the AFL title in 2022 and remains contracted to the club until the end of next year.
Ó Sé, who finished up with Kerry after the 2016 All-Ireland semi-final loss to Dublin, said: “I definitely think Mark was the one who got away.
“It’s easy to say, ‘If we put this stuff in place for these players…’, but the attraction of going to a beautiful country, warm weather, getting paid for something you enjoy doing, it’s hard not to put your hand up for that.
“Obviously we’d love to have him in Kerry. I’m sure Jack O’Connor has asked him back.
“I know back in the day he was asked back but it’s a hard thing to leave a situation where you’re getting paid and you’re on a contract too.”
*THE 23rd series of Laochra Gael continues with the story of Marc Ó Sé on TG4 tomorrow night at 9.30pm.
