BLUE UNLIMITED

THEY like their piseógs in Kerry, and Mark O'Shea was spooked by superstition ahead of the All-Ireland final.

- BY PAT NOLAN

The colour clash with Donegal meant that both counties would wear their change strips for the decider, so as the Ulster champions donned a predominantly white jersey, Kerry switched to blue.

It became Kerry's default alternative decades ago, representing the Munster colours with the longstanding tradition being that counties would adopt their provincial strip if a clash emerged in the All-Ireland series.

But while it cropped up regularly over the years given the predominance of green in county jerseys, this was the first final that they had worn blue in an All-Ireland final since 1972, when they lost to Offaly after a replay.

O'Shea, who only broke into the side this year at the age of 27, had more contemporary reasons to feel restless about the blue, however.

"When we were wearing the blue jersey, I was like, 'Feck sake' because I wore it when I made my debut against Mayo up in Castlebar and we were beaten," he explained.

"And I made my starting debut against Meath in the Championship with the blue jersey. So I was like, 'Jeez, I don't know about these blue jerseys."

That Meath game came amid a rut of injuries which threatened Kerry's All-Ireland ambitions.

Their midfield hasn't been the most celebrated sector of the team in recent years and with Diarmuid O'Connor and Barry Dan O'Sullivan out through injury, manager Jack O'Connor had to go further down the trough than he would have liked.