Form suggests Listry can storm Castle
COUNTY PREMIER JUNIOR FOOTBALL FINAL
Castlegregory v Listry SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29 at 1pm in Austin Stack Park, Tralee
IT’S a bit of a unique position now for the Junior Football Final in the county as since the changes introduced last year it is now the only club decider in Kerry that doesn’t offer the chance to go forward into a Munster competition. That shouldn’t diminish the desire for either Castlegregory or Listry to succeed on Sunday afternoon however as both have had fairly eventful years at adult level this decade.
The West Kerry club started the decade as All-Ireland Junior Club Champions but have suffered the effects of emigration and other factors, dropping down to Division Five of the County League at one point before starting to find their feet again over the last two years.
Listry have risen as high as Division Two twice this decade and were winners of the equivalent competition, the Novice in 2014, before a shock loss to Moyvane in the Preliminary Round last year had the effect of putting them back in the fourth level of Championship Football in the county. The East Kerry club have an interesting figure as their manager this year in Seanie O’Shea, Dr Crokes Captain from the club’s 1992 All-Ireland Club success and former Kerry Hurling selector. He feels it has been a tough campaign for Listry to get to this point.
“The semi-final with Lispole was the first time we had a full team this year and we’ve had to fight hard especially after being relegated from Division Two. Winning the early games against Asdee and Tarbert were crucial for us though because it allowed us to keep the players focussed during the summer especially when you know there are big games to come later in the year no matter if you are struggling in the League or not,” the Listry manager said.
Castlegregory contended for promotion from Division Four themselves this campaign before missing out in the closing stages but this is the club’s first county decider since 2009 when they defeated Beaufort on their way to the steps of Croke Park. Club Chairman Tom Rohan charts a difficult journey since the club’s proudest day.
“We had a panel of 36 players back in 2010 when we won the All-Ireland but we lost 18 players in the aftermath of that win mainly due to emigration and now only 12 remain from that panel. It’s taken us some time to be competitive again but it’s down to some good work done at underage level in bringing some of our younger players through,” the Club Chairman said. Alan Fitzgerald, Shane Kenny, Joe and Tom O’Connor, Anton Kelliher, Colm O’Mahony and Gavin O’Connor are some of the survivors from 2010 since then for Castle but the latter duo are injury worries as younger prospects for the club now include Jimmy O’Grady, Michael Scanlon and Brian Dowling in the present line-up. Listry’s only concern is for Darren Lehane as they are backboned by Joe Clifford, Jimmy O’Leary and Derry Aherne in the main with Gary O’Sullivan, Anthony Kennedy and Ronan Buckley other key players for them. Castlegregory accounted for Scartaglin and came through difficult encounters with both Duagh and Tuosist to make it here and their club chairman feels they are up against it in advance of Sunday. “We looked dead and buried against Duagh while I think we were guilty of underestimating Tuosist a small bit in the Semi-Final. It’s going to be very difficult against Listry because there are physically stronger than us with the age profile of our team. We hope our young lads can step up to the occasion however and drive us forward on the day.”
Meanwhile the Listry boss is hoping for one more big performance from his side.
“Lispole (semi-final) was a very tight game for us to come through and was one with a pure Championship spirit that went right down to the wire. Castlegregory are a good steady side and they scored quite a bit in the County League so we will not take this lightly. We’ve trained hard for this and feel if the lads can perform on the day then they might not be too far away from it.” The desire to get back to Premier Junior level will be a more pressing concern for both sides as opposed to any disappointment about not getting to go beyond the county bounds with a win.
The more recent form in recent years will favour Listry in advance but after the club losing a succession of Novice Finals up to their overdue 2014 win they will not want to experience such a defeat again.
Castlegregory won’t be heavily favoured in advance by a lot of outsiders but this represents an ideal opportunity for them to try and re-spark some of the glory days visited at the turn of the decade. Verdict: Listry