James O'Donoghue sickened he will miss Dubs encounter

James O'Donoghue

Conor McKeon

JAMES O'DONOGHUE has described the prospect of missing Sunday's visit of Dublin to Killarney as "sickening".

The reigning Footballer of the Year will miss Kerry's League programme in its entirety as a result of a shoulder injury he nursed through the Kingdom's 2014 All-Ireland win.

The associated surgery and rehabilitation means O'Donoghue will not see competitive action in a Kerry jersey until the Munster SFC opener against Waterford or Tipperary in mid June, at the earliest.

Dublin come to Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday to rekindle a rivalry which has, since the 2011 All-Ireland final, taken on a new impetus, with Dublin winning six of the last seven League and Championship meetings between the counties,

O'Donoghue suggests "it's a great one to look forward to," but admitted: "It's sickening to miss it, really. But could be worse.

motivation

"I have three months (rehab completed) and then I am back I can train hard and put the head down and have the motivation of watching the boys play and that's a serious motivation to be watching," he added.

"Hopefully they will be doing well and that will drive me on.

"If they are winning, it will make me more hungry and want to get back into a winning team and fight for my place. I'm sure it will be the case.

"It is tough to watch the games but I'm sure I will be grand."

Winners of the past two All-Ireland titles between them, Dublin and Kerry have already been installed as favourites and second favourites, respectively, for this year's Championship.

And as such, O'Donoghue concedes there is a decent chance the two will meet at a much more important juncture of the season.

"You'd have to think that Kerry and Dublin are going to be two heavyweights most years."

"You're always looking forward to a Kerry-Dublin fixture.

"Open, attacking, excellent players on both teams. You love those games. I'm sure they're going to be really entertaining hard-fought games.

methods

"Doesn't matter who is the reigning champions or not. I'm sure it will be the same in Killarney."

The Legion attacker also admitted Kerry examined Dublin's methods in losing to Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final, a display that inspired a most un-Kerry-like setup for the deicder against Jim McGuinness's team.

"We looked at the Dublin-Donegal game," he explained.

"If we played the same way Dublin did, Donegal would have beat us.

"We we're going to line up to win the game."