Former Young Player of the Year and 2009 Celtic Cross winner Tommy Walsh made his season debut in the Tralee District Final on Saturday night in Austin Stack Park. He played in midfield against Austin Stacks scoring a long range point.

But Kerry senior manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice has asked for fans to be patient with Walsh who has been playing Aussie Rules for the last five years.

“Tommy is training, full steam ahead. He is settling back in and he is doing well. He is feeling his way back.

“Look, the bottom line with Tommy is  we are going to be very patient with him.  We are not expecting him to be back to where he was in 2009 by the time the second League game comes around.”

Walsh’s club colleague Micheál Quirke echoed those sentiments this week.

“Tommy has a huge amount of work to do before his kicking gets back to the high standard we saw in the All-Ireland final of 2009.

“You’ll see him jumping too early or getting trapped under the pitch of the ball until he gets his eye in. We won’t see him near his best until the back end of the League and championship beckons. Be patient with him, he’ll get there.”

Tommy’s close friend David Moran may well be given the captaincy in the absence of Kieran Donaghy who is away on club duty, for the opening match of the Allianz League this Sunday in Fitzgerald Stadium, throw-in at 2.00pm.

News of Darran O’Sullivan is less good. The Glenbeigh/Glencar flyer has been plagued with hamstring problems. He has been diagnosed with another serious tear and is not expected to take any part in the League programme.

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Valentia Young Islanders make club history

Eighteen months ago it was all Valentia could do to get a senior football team out on the field. Not from any lack of commitment, but only from a lack of bodies. They were a poster team for the problems of rural depopulation in Ireland.

The Islanders kept soldiering on. They lost out to St. Senans by a point in the Novice Championship. They had a tough battle to get past Clounmacon in the opening round of the Novice Shield, and then an even tougher one against Fossa. There were bonfires lit the night that they beat Ballydonoghue to claim the Novice Shield title.

Then off into Munster – some Valentia footballers could have been entitled to ask if they needed passports, such was their leap in fortune. Cratloe’s second string were easily disposed of in a great year for that club too, but Kildimo Pallaskenery were always going to be a hugely daunting proposition.

The heirs of Mick O’Connell are not easily daunted. It was a great battle, a ferocious match of skill and strength and voracious hunger, but Valentia emerged victorious on a 0-12 to 1-8 scoreline as Munster Champions.

“It’s a huge win for us,” said Valentia chairman John O’Sullivan. “Everyone knows that we were struggling for a while but this really galvanises the whole club, it brings huge confidence and is a great incentive going forward. We are all looking forward to 2015 now. I couldn’t praise Linus Burke or all the players enough, they were fantastic.”

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