Kerry minors braced for Banner backlash
Jason O’Connor caught up with Kerry minor boss Peter Keane ahead of the Kingdom’s attempt to win a fifth Munster title in-a-row
TWO months ago, prior to an ‘all or nothing’ encounter with Cork there was an understandable air of caution about the Kerry Minors when they went to Pairc Uí Rinn for the Munster semi-final.
Lose and the entire year was over, win and they would have football until at least the start of August. Win it they did and in some fashion also that the mood when Peter Keane returned to face the media with a clearer picture than the last time has once again heightens expectations about this being another long summer for the minors.
The Cahersiveen native is cautious by nature, however, and is warning about the dangers in looking too far beyond this Sunday’s Munster Final against Clare.
“The priority any year is to be involved over the summer months, thirty two counties enter this, but ultimately only one can win the All-Ireland in the end. It looked very tricky at the start with the strong possibility of having to go to Cork for the semi-final if we won our first game.
“People can talk about the ‘back door’ route but I’m a lot happier for having come through the front door to here like we have,” the Kerry Minor manager said about the campaign so far.
What of the performance against the Rebels now he has had a bit more time to dwell on it?
“I would say we performed relatively well overall, but we have looked at the video and identified areas we want to improve on for our next game. With the format beating the opposition you beat is irrelevant once you make it through to a Munster Final,” he said.
In the immediate aftermath of the Cork win it looked like Kerry would be making the short downhill trip from Pairc Uí Rinn to the new Pairc Uí Chaoimh only for the announcement two weeks ago that the venue would not be ready in time as had been believed.
While there is disappointment in one sense, Keane says playing in Fitzgerald Stadium holds no burden to any Kerry side.
“It would have been nice for this group of players to say that they were the first Kerry team to play in the new Pairc Uí Chaoimh, but at the same time it’s a big bonus for any Kerry side to have Fitzgerald Stadium as the venue for a big game.”
Sunday’s opposition will be the side Kerry faced in their first outing in Clare at Austin Stack Park back in April and while many will expect a Kerry success, Keane is quite strong in his belief that the Banner County will be a much more formidable outfit than they were nearly three months ago.
“The way the last two encounters we have had with them [the sides also met in the 2016 Munster semi-final] have gone is that if you take the opening 10 minutes out of both games it was pretty even between both sides after.
“You have to look at it from Clare’s perspective back in April in terms of making a long journey down and struggling to get to the pace of the game early on before improving as the game went on and being more than a
match for us after.
“It’s worked out better for them because if they had gone through the front door it would have meant beating both ourselves and Cork to get here. This will be their fifth game so far and any team at minor level is bound to get better the more they play,” he believes.
Indeed the Kerry Minor boss is not one to accept the argument about tradition between counties at this level.
“If you go by that argument then a county like Tipperary would never have won the All-Ireland title at Minor in 2011. Everyone has to start from somewhere and if you look at St Flannans they have reached the Semi-Finals of the Corn Ui Mhuirí in the last two years.
“Tradition is something that only applies at senior level where there is continuity there from previous years,” Keane said.
The county’s Under 17s making the All-Ireland stages of the once off event has increased the workload for all, but it’s a busier schedule that Keane is happy to have.
“It’s much better than not anything to do and be looking for tickets for the senior match. What the Under 17s have meant is that we’re nearly having 30 for all our sessions now as opposed to last year where there were times there might have only been 13 or 14 there due to colleges and club games.
“They are also pushing for places on the minor team itself which is keeping everyone focussed.”
While the forward line has been getting most of the praise, Keane agrees that the county’s defence has been pretty solid so far.
“We have at least 12 or 13 backs capable of starting and we have done very well there thus far. When you see how Clare have scored 5-11 and 3-13 in two of their games since we played them we know that we have to be strong there again.
“While we want to win of course it’s just as important that we perform as well and if we are beaten by a better team then so be it.
“We don’t want the players to be waking up with any regrets on Monday morning afterwards.”
SEAMUS and Kerry? John Maughan will tell you to this very day that what separated the Corofin man from the rest of his peers wasn’t his football, but his belief. It was total. It was unquestioned. For the North Clare man belief was like the North Star; it was always there, bright and burning.
While many others within the Clare lair of ’92 believed Clare could have their day against Kerry it was Clancy who preached it most and it was from a distance too, even before the manager himself.
“I recall down in Lahinch, Seamus Clancy turned to me,” remembered Maughan.
“I’ll never forget it. He said we were going to win the Munster final this year. He was the first guy that actually said that and I began to realise that we actually would win,” he added.
Twenty five years on and the fruits of that belief are being celebrated once more on Sunday when the class of 1992 are presented on Munster final day in Fitzgerald Stadium as one of the greatest day in Clare GAA history is remembered.
The day there wouldn’t be a cow milked; the day Seamus Clancy gave the performance of his life against anyone in green and gold and every ball that came his way.
The thing is, however, that Clancy will have other things on his mind on this day. Kerry again, but Kerry 2017 instead of 1992 as he prepares to face down the blue bloods in a Munster final once more, even if it’s at the other side of the whitewash as a manager of the minors that can be forgiven for daring to dream.
“When you’re playing you think you’re going to be in this every year,” says the All Star from the heart of the Burren in Kilnaboy. “I thought we’d be competing at this level all the time. That’s what confidence in a team does.
“You think this is where we’re meant to be, this is where we’re going to be playing all the time. In that moment in time you think ‘we’re good enough to be playing in Munster finals every year’. In reality, the opportunity doesn’t come that often, but as a player I was thinking ‘we’re well up there, we can take on anyone here’.”
It’s taken Clancy all those 25 years to get back, so more than anyone else he knows how big it is – an rud is annamh is iontach and all that: “First of all a Munster final is a massive opportunity,” he says.
“You don’t get that many opportunities to play in them and you just have to relish the opportunity to play in one, you have to relish the thought of playing in one, you have to relish the day and look forward to it. It’s a huge thing.
“We’re with this group for three years. We have seen these players grow into fine men over three years. They’re a credit to their parents and their clubs and are a fine bunch.
“They’d give you energy every time you go to train. Half an hour before training they’re ready to go. They’d inspire you and I’ve certainly enjoyed every second with them.
“We had seen from day one that there was huge potential in them. What you had was a mighty bunch of forwards, which is scare enough. It’s hard to get a talented bunch forwards at the one time. They’re there. They’re natural forwards and that’s a big plus for us.”
Of course, Kerry’s pedigree goes without saying. After all, as a county they haven’t been beaten at minor level since the 2013 quarter-final when Tyrone edged the side that was jointly managed by John O’Keeffe and Mickey Ned O’Sullivan.
Since then the run has taken in 19 wins and a hat-trick of Munster and All-Ireland titles, while already this year they cruised to a 13-point victory over
Clare in the quarter-final.
“We went into that
Kerry game totally into the unknown,” says Clancy.
“We hadn’t really prepared for Kerry, it was just to go down there and see what we were like, so it was a free shot at Kerry if you like. After that game we’d know what we were like and what we had to do.
“We were beaten in ten minutes and were a bit naive going into it. It was a huge learning experience and it set the bar for us. It was our first year in minor management and we had to find out the level we had to try and get to.
“We know that Kerry are going to improve a lot. They gave a good hammering to Cork. We think we have improved as well. We’re in a much better shape than we were when we went down to Tralee. If we weren’t we wouldn’t be doing a very good job.”
All that’s left is to see where the gap lies after 11 weeks; to see if Clare, in contesting a first Munster final in 23 years can bridge the gap that was there on 12 April.
“We need to be in the game after ten minutes, that’s what we need to do first of all,” says Clancy.
“We need to be ready for their intensity and bring our own intensity to the game and be in the game in sections – be in the game after ten minutes, be in the game at half-time, and stay in the game.
“Kerry are going to get a run at us, but we need to stall that and claw it back and ensure that they haven’t us beaten. They’ll get their three or four points or a goal, but we have to make sure they don’t beat us in those spells and we come back and put our own stamp on it and take our scores. “The main thing is that we go down and we keep our heads up and we fight for everything, we fight tooth and nail for everything for as long as we can. That’s our aim going down. If we can get our scores on top of that well and good. The main thing is that we fight for every ball.”
As Seamus Clancy did in 1992.
Like manager, like team.
As Clare dare to dream.
Tradition is something that only applies at senior level where there’s continuity from previous years