County Senior Hurling Championship preview
Having won two titles in-a-row Kilmoyley are verifably a very, very good side, but only truly great sides win three in-a-row, writes Damian Stack
WITH that everything changed. Their sense of themselves and what they were capable of changed. Their opponents too were left to sift through the runes, caught more than a little flat-footed by the whole thing. What did this mean for them? What would they do about it? What could they do about it?
It was a masterful coup by Kilmoyley. It caught us off guard for the simple reason that so few expected it. Shane Brick’s return to the green and gold fold was rumoured briefly and then, just as quickly, confirmed. Calculus changed overnight.
Without Brick would Kilmoyley have claimed their twenty fourth title? It’s impossible to say with any degree of certainty – if he wasn’t there others might have stepped up to the plate – our suspicion, however, is that they might not have done so.
That’s not saying Kilmoyley aren’t a better team than Ballyduff, simply that without Brick’s contribution it’s possible the Naomh Pairc Eric side might not have had the fire-power to overhaul a Ballyduff team with the most potent set of forwards in the championship.
By thinking outside the box Kilmoyley found a way. That’s the mark of a great club and Kilmoyley are undoubtedly a great club. The only real question that remains is whether or not this current Kilmoyley side are a great side?
Over the coming weeks and months we’ll have our answer. After the 2015 and 2016 successes Kilmoyley have earned the right to be considered a very, very good side. Success this year would confirm their greatness.
Good sides don’t win three championships in succession, great teams do. That’s the task that now faces Kilmoyley and it’s a task they’ll face into without their 2016 ace in the hole, Shane Brick.
That in itself raises those questions about Kilmoyley’s fire-power all over again. The hope in Lerrig must be that those younger players who weren’t quite ready to drive Kilmoyley to glory last year – Jordan Brick for instance – will, twelve months on, be ready for the big time.
As ever County League form is at best a questionable guide to how teams will fare in the battle for the Neilus Flynn, so we’re left grasping at straws in the breeze, judging team’s potential by previous championship form, county players and underage success and that being the case inevitably the case of Causeway will be pressed.
Year on year Causeway find themselves in the same position talked about and talked up. You look at the depth of the talent they have at their disposal and think that, sooner rather than later, they will find a way to their first county title since 1998.
It’s been that way for a good four or five seasons now and bar one season when they seemed poised for a return to the final, it’s never materialised for them the way you would have expected it to.
Hope, of course, springs eternal and, while the news that a man in his forties is returning to play championship hurling this summer might not on its face seem a hugely encouraging sign, when that man is John Mike Dooley you see the logic of it. Even if Dooley is only good for a ten or a fifteen minute cameo at the end of a game no opposing manager or full-back line will relish the prospect of him coming off the bench in a crunch tie in Austin Stack Park.
All the same when talking to various people about the teams most likely to challenge Kilmoyley, Causeway haven’t often been the first name on people’s lips. It seems Ballyduff and Lixnaw – currently topping the County League table for what it’s worth – are the popular fancies.
Ballyduff obviously because of the punch they pack – and the fact they brought Kilmoyley to a replay in last season’s final – and Lixnaw because of the strides they’ve made at underage level in the last couple of seasons.
Lixnaw would probably prefer we didn’t talk their chances up too much. They’re a club that prefer to come into a championship under the radar and maybe even a little under-cooked. There doesn’t appear to be much danger of that this year. They were stunning in a demolition of Balyduff recently in the league – again with the proviso that we treat league form cautiously.
Still new manager Fergus Fitzmaurice knows more than most about the rhythms of the Kerry county championship and, in Mark Foley, the club have secured for themselves one of the best coaches about.
Another side we would be remiss to dismiss is St Brendans. It’s easy to forget now twelve months down the line, just how impressive they were in the opening two rounds of the championship (and indeed how impressive they were for much of their semi-final).
Perhaps the lesson they’ll learn from that is that it’s best to pace yourself in this championship. It’s equally possible that they were just unfortunate, in hindsight, not to have had a quarter-final to play.
Championships are decided upon by such small margins and that’s the thing about this championship, there’s not a huge amount between the top four or five sides – Ballyduff, Causeway, Kilmoyley, Lixnaw or St Brendans.
Unless our radar is completely off – remember Crotta’s surprising and exhilarating run to the 2011 final – the winner of this year’s championship will come from that list of clubs.
Abbeydorney have been making progress, but the loss of Michael O’Leary for the early part of the championship could prove very costly. It’s a similar story for Crotta. They’re a club on the up but this year’s championship has probably come too soon for them. Ballyheigue equally so, they need to rebuild and that’s not going to happen overnight.
Push comes to shove who do we think will win this year’s championship? Either Lixnaw or Kilmoyley... or Ballyduff... or St Brendans. It’s much too soon to get more specific than that!
That’s the thing about this championship, there’s not a huge amount between the top four or five sides