Four in-a-row for Juniors
THEY couldn’t keep the record going could they? Not after three years of provincial dominance. Not after claiming back-to-back All Ireland titles? The system is pretty much designed to stop such a thing from happening.
An All Ireland winning team cannot go back in an attempt to retain their title. A new bunch of footballers needs to be assembled and this year the Kerry juniors would do so without the man who led them so successfully over the previous three campaigns – Stephen Wallace.
In his place All Ireland junior club championship winning manager with Brosna Jimmy Keane assumed the reins. Big boots to fill, but perhaps, the Brosna man would have the benefit of not having such high expectations.
Nobody had much right to expect the run could keep on going as it had been. Then again this is Kerry and the Kingdom expects. The underage success mean that even having been tasked with finding a completely new team from the year before, there was still plenty of talent available to him and his management team.
They got their campaign underway with a Munster championship semi-final victory over Limerick (who had pushed them so hard the year before) in Ennis – as the undercard to the seniors. It was hugely impressive performance from Keane’s men straight out of the box.
They ran out twenty point winners – 0-26 to 0-6 – with underage stars Killian Spillane, Éanna Ó Conchúir, Jack Maguire and Tomás Ó Sé all excelling. Another man to impress was Kerry senior star Brendan O’Sullivan who gave a brilliant display scoring two points from play.
It set Kerry up for a tilt at a fourth Munster title in-a-row. In Pairc Uí Rinn they faced a Cork side clearly fed up with being whipping boys to Kerry and determined to regain momentum for themsleves at this level.
What transpired on a Tuesday night at the end of the month was one of the games of the season. Kerry won it, but boy were they made to work hard for it. Cork pushed them all the way, all the way to extra-time as a matter of fact. Kerry ran out 4-24 to 3-20 winners over the Rebels.
Tomás Ó Sé was the game’s star performer and the An Ghaeltacht star helped himself to 2-4 from play just pipping Philip O’Connor’s
2-3.
The Kerry ladies qualified for the Munster senior football final, making up for their first round defeat to Waterford with a famous victory over Cork in Fitzgerald Stadium. Kerry manager Graham Shine led his side to a 2-15 to 2-13 victory over their great rivals to set up a re-match with the Déise.
“It was an absolutely fantastic game,” Kerry star Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh said after the match. “Both teams gave it everything. We went in five points up, but we know Cork are an outstanding team. You’d look up to them and we knew they’d come back at us, but there’s this experience with us. Our heads don’t drop. It’s a sign of the heart in the team.”
Castleisland claimed the Under 14 county title having seen off East Kerry on a 2-9 to 1-7 scoreline. In the plate final West Kerry saw off Eoghan Ruadh 2-14
to 2-7.
Kerry won the Shield at the Kennedy Cup, recovering from a poor start to the competition to rally and finish in 17th place overall. In the Shield final the Kingdom ran out 3-1 winners over West Cork.