Double All-Ireland winning minor manager Peter Keane will be ratified as Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s successor in the Kerry senior football hotseat on Monday, Examiner Sport understands.
Keane is the preferred choice of the executive sub-committee set up in the wake of Fitzmaurice’s departure in August, and his management team will be presented to a county board meeting in Tralee on Monday.
One of his two main rivals for the position, Maurice Fitzgerald, may still be involved in the new set-up as a selector, maintaining a link with Fitzmaurice’s outgoing management group.
Keane will finalise his backroom team this weekend, with close attention being paid to whether coach Donie Buckley will be involved. It is understood Buckley, who served briefly as coach under Jack O’Connor’s Kerry management, in 2012, is keen to be involved again with his native county – in the right circumstances and with the right management team.
Keane, the 47-year-old Killorglin-based businessman, hails from Caherciveen, the hometown of Maurice Fitzgerald. He led the local St Mary’s club there to an Al-Ireland club title in 2011, and was in charge of the Legion senior footballers for two seasons up to 2016.
However, this will be a considerable step-up to one of the most challenging positions in inter-county football.
