Kerry champions Firies must face Fenor in Munster Club JFC quarter-final without Jack Sherwood

The former Kerry star has been sidelined for the majority of the season with a troublesome neck injury, but manager Seamus O'Connor has confirmed that Sherwood is making good progress. Niall Donohue and Padraig de Brún, who suffered knocks in the county final against Ardfert, are fit to line out.

"We're hoping that Jack will get some bit [of football] soon, but we probably don't have a definite timeline yet. It's just one of those things that take time so we don't have any definite date, but we're very hopeful that it will be soon. Everybody else is okay, we're all good in that sense," he said.

"It's probably still a little bit surreal. We met three years ago, it wasn't about just winning a junior, it was about getting up to intermediate. It was probably a dream, and the dream has come true.

"It's unbelievable to be representing our county in Munster. It means the world to our group, it means the world to our club," added O'Connor.

Fenor defeated Ballyduff Upper in a closely-contested decider, 0-9 to 0-8, in Waterford, lifting the junior crown for the first time in 45 years. Under the management team of Mick Murphy, Eoin O'Neill and Derek Farrell, they will be determined to put on a good display on home soil.

Goalkeeper Michael Mooney was outstanding last time out, taking the player-of-the-match award. Jim Halley and captain John Flynn anchor the defence, Eoin Nolan is a key figure at midfield, while Fenor have dangerous forwards in Sean Mackey, Richard Lynch and James Hayden.

"We spoke about it during the week, and we will be treating Fenor with the same respect that we did in all our championship matches. Absolutely under no circumstances will we be under-estimating anyone, because that's the rock that you will perish on," stressed the Firies manager.

With county final hero Donohue, Diarmuid O'Mahony and Diarmuid Brosnan rock-solid at the back, de Brún and Jake Flynn in the engine room, added to the exciting attacking threat from the likes of James Horgan, Cian Doe, Mike Daly and Stephen Palmer, Firies should get off to a winning start in the provincial campaign.

Verdict: Firies

Fenor (Waterford) v Firies

Saturday, November 9

Walsh Park, Waterford at 1.15pm

Referee: James Regan (Cork)