The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Banner day as Kilmoyley bid to get challenge back on track
Lixnaw v Kilmoyley Sunday,July24 Austin Stack Park, 3.30pm
THESE two teams have history.
That history is a source of comfort to one team and genuine worry to the other. When these two teams have come face to face generally Lixnaw are the ones who triumph. For whatever reason they have proven to be a serious bogey team for Kilmoyley.
The 2014 final will probably live on in the popular imagination for reasons other than hurling, whatever about that it provided yet more evidence of Lixnaw dominance over Kilmoyley.
For sure it took a second game for them to assert their dominance, but assert their dominance they did and you’ve got to believe it annoys the hell out of Kilmoyley. Losing a county final is one thing, losing it to Lixnaw is quite another.
Kilmoyley don’t like to think of themselves as second best to anybody. The Naomh Pairc Eric outfit probably would have beaten Lixnaw last year had they met in the kinock-out stages, but fate kept them apart. They’ve got unfinished business with Lixnaw.
“So I’m told, I don’t really know anything about the history of Kilmoyley and Lixnaw,” Kilmoyley boss Fergie O’Loughlin says when asked.
“It doesn’t really bother me, look history is history and as far as we’re concerned we’re County Champions. Lixnaw have to come and take us on and that’s the way I’d be looking at it and that’s what I’ve been telling the players.
“These little things if they’re spoken about too often can get into the lads’ heads, but as far as I’m concerned it’s Lixnaw who have to come and take us on as County Champions. We’re the ones really on the front foot so they have to come and challenge us.”
That’s precisely the attitude players and management need to adopt. Leave talk of hoodoos and Indian signs to the fans and the press. The same, by the way, goes for Lixnaw. They can’t let a belief that they’ve somehow gotten inside Kilmoyley heads to distract from their preparations.
“Lixnaw obviously have a good record against them over the last couple of years, but there’s definitely a changing of the guard there with Lixnaw,” Lixnaw boss Fergie Tuohy contends.
“You’ve lost the Galvins and some senior stalwarts, who were huge presences to the team. They have been successful the last few years at minor, so we have talent coming through, whether it’s balanced enough for a seasoned side like Kilmoyley we don’t know yet.”
It’s a fair point. Lixnaw have less of that really experienced core that brought them a hard-edge over the past ten years. They’ve lost Maurice Corridan, a stalwart and warrior, for the season, while his brother Pat missed the second round clash with Crotta.
Tuohy hopes to have him back in the fold for this game – he played football for Finuge last weekend – and he would provide much needed nous and experience, not to mention that hard edge we’ve already spoken of. Darragh Shanahan is another player on the cusp of a return.
“We’re improved, we’ve upped the fitness levels and upped the hurling so we’d be hoping,” Tuohy says.
“It’s a tall order, Kilmoyley are the champions and it’s still a tall order and we’d be hoping to have enough in the locker for them.”
For their part Kilmoyley could be without talisman Daniel Collins for the game. He picked up a grade two hamstring tear in their defeat at the hands of Abbeydorney.
“We were very, very disappointed with the Abbeydorney game, especially up front,” O’Loughlin admits.
“We got no return at all from our six forwards. Once Daniel [Collins] went off I think the rest of the heads went down with the rest of the forwards, which shouldn’t happen and we got no return at all from the forwards.
“We lacked punch and we lacked the work ethic without the ball, it was poor, our finishing was poor and we just had constant pressure on the backs. Every time the ball went up the forwards weren’t able to keep hold of it.
“We weren’t like that against Abbeydorney. We’re hoping to correct that for Sunday.”
That really is the key to victory, for both sides. Lixnaw would seem to have the more exciting – or at least more potentially exciting – forward line. For sure it’s young, Shane Conway and Jason Wallace while exciting have lots of potential to grow into even better players, but there’s obvious firepower there.
Assuming Daniel Collins doesn’t make it – and we expect he probably will – Kilmoyley could be in a spot of bother up front. Perhaps O’Loughlin will draft Adrian Royle into the side for his ball winning abilities, he might need to.
Lixnaw have every chance of continuing their dominance over Kilmoyley, but we must remember that Kilmoyley are the reigning champions. If Collins is fit, if their forwards click better then they can triumph. Just about.
Verdict: Kilmoyley