Reidy opts out of Kerry panel
Wednesday March 10 2010
GER Reidy, the man hotly tipped to replace Diarmuid Murphy as Kerry's permanent goalkeeper, has quit the Kerry panel with immediate effect.
The Castleisland Desmonds shot stopper, who made his inter-county debut against Donegal in February 2009, confirmed this week that he can no longer juggle intense college and football commitments.
Having agonised over the decision for weeks, the 23-year old informed Kerry manager Jack O'Connor of his intention to quit the senior panel at the weekend.
Speaking The Kerryman on Tuesday, the UCC student said that he could no longer meet the demands of college and senior football, and was forced to put his football dreams on hold to concentrate on his studies.
"It had come to a stage where I was missing up to 15 hours a week of college and I had to make the choice," he said. "It was certainly not an easy decision but in trying to balance both college and football, both were beginning to suffer."
Reidy, who is studying History and English with a view to teaching or writing in the future, said that he had applied for both a post-grad and an MA course, and that if he secured a place after his exams in May it could see him in Dublin, Galway or even the UK from August onwards.
"If my exams go wrong this year there simply won't be a place for me in the post-grad or MA course and because teaching jobs are so scarce at the moment, I can't take that risk. Financially, I also cannot afford to repeat a year either," he said. "If it had been a few years ago it would be different."
Reidy, who won an AllIreland medal with Kerry in 2009, insists that his decision is in no way linked to the selection of fellow keeper Brendan Kealy as number one in Kerry's last two league games.
"There is going to be a lot of reaction from people saying I'm quitting because of that and that it's sour grapes, but I want to make it clear that is absolutely not the case. This is something I have been thinking about for some time and something I have agonised over for weeks," he said. "I have exams coming up and I simply can't balance the two [college and football] anymore and so decided to concentrate totally on college."
Reidy says that while he intends to remain as goalie with his club, Castleisland Desmonds, he would love a chance to return to inter-county football in the future.
Reidy's decision follows hot on the heels of Jack O'Connor revealing at the weekend that Michael McCarthy was unlikely to return to the Kerry fold.
Reidy's decision leaves O'Connor with a selection headache ahead of Sunday's NFL game in Galway with Kerry Under 21 keeper Tomás Mac an tSaoir likely to be called up for a place on the bench to replace Reidy.
This could cause problems for U-21 boss John Kennedy as in the event of his Kerry team beating the Rebels on Saturday afternoon they will play a Munster semi-final the following weekend.
- Marisa Reidy
