Split season concerns

Both Jack O’Connor and Galway manager Padraig Joyce were in reflective mood in Killarney on Sunday after their respective league campaigns ended, and they look ahead now to the championship.

O’Connor’s men headed to Portugal next week for a stint of warm, weather training but a number of the squad are still suffering from injuries as the championship opener, likely to be against Cork, on April 20th approaches.

Kerry’s injury list is a lengthy one right now. Jason Foley has been ruled out until after the Munster Championship at the very least with an ankle ligament tear while Cillian Burke, Dylan Geaney, Conor Geaney, Tom O’Sullivan, Tony Brosnan and Diarmuid O’Connor all missed the end of the league campaign through injury. Ruairi Murphy and Stefan Okunbor remain long term injury victims while Mike Breen and Brian Ó Beaglaoich only returned to action in the past week.

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Impressive win for Cooper-trained Shuttle Diplomacy

Jack Kennedy’s title challenge found new momentum over the weekend and he outscored Paul Townend by two winners to one thanks to trainers Gordon Elliott and Ted Walsh at Navan on Saturday.

The Kerry man landed the opening two-mile maiden hurdle on the Elliott-trained 8-15 favourite Rainbow Trail which made all the running in the colours of Gigginstown House Stud to beat the Edward and Patrick Harty-trained Well Dressed by three lengths.

While Townend landed a winner of his own on Willie Mullins’ Chapeau De Soleil in the Novice Hurdle, Kennedy made it two for the day on the Ted Walsh-trained Hardwired in the two-mile one-furlong handicap chase. The 15-2 chance had luck on his side though as he was left in the lead when the Barry Connell-trained De Lady In Red, travelling well at the time, fell at the second-last fence. At the line Hardwired beat Gavin Cromwell’s Dutch Shultz by three-parts-of-a-length. Bushmans Pass won his third race of the season for Phillip Enright and trainer Oliver McKiernan when scoring a narrow success in the near three-mile novice handicap chase. The 7-1 shot came through to lead after the final fence to beat the Gavin Cromwell-trained 3-1 favourite Ask Anything by a neck to add to earlier wins at Limerick and Fairyhouse.

Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.