The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Cork school fancied to come through to face champions, St Brendans, in Munster final
WITH the remaining Kerry Schools in the Corn Ui Mhuiri on opposite sides of the Semi-Final draw, the possibility of a first all Kerry Final since 2013 still exists but both the traditional Kingdom powerhouses in the competition, St Brendans College and Tralee CBS, will have to face the challenge of St Flannans of Ennis and Colaiste Chriost Ri of Cork this Saturday before any thoughts of a Final can be entertained.
St Brendan’s College v St Flannans, Ennis
FOR the Sem, it’s a repeat of last year’s Semi-Final, a game they were comfortable winners in over the Clare School but Sem manager Gary McGrath says that it is wrong to judge this Saturday’s game on what happened last year.
“I think Flannans are a lot stronger than last year having some of the team that won last year’s Frewen Cup in their ranks. They are here on merit having beaten some of the teams they have and they have nothing to lose as well I feel,” he believes. The Killarney School will be bolstered by the return of David Shaw from the AFL trial he attended in Florida that ruled him out of the Quarter-Final win over Pobalscoil Corcha Dhuibhne although he is carrying a slight groin injury into the match.
Jack Griffin has been ruled out of Saturday by the School however with injury concerns over Sean O’Leary, Cian O’Callaghan and Donnachadh O’Sullivan as well before Saturday. Looking back on the Quarter-Final win over the West Kerry School, McGrath felt that the Sem’s management learned more from the tight nature of the firsthalf as opposed to the way they powered to victory after half-time.
“It was a battle in the first-half but we were happy with how the lads were playing. It was just a case of the final pass going astray for us when it came to looking for scores. Our first goal was the big turning point obviously and it allowed us to dominate from there but there are aspects of the Pobalscoil game that we want to work on before we face Flannans on Saturday,” he said.
Flannans got the better of Mercy Mounthawk Tralee of course in the Quarter-Finals and have two Clare Minors amongst their ranks in Tom Hannon and Gavin Cooney. Pride alone should see them do a bit better this time but The Sem will be expected to advance to another Corn Ui Mhuiri Final at the end of the month.
Verdict: St Brendans College
Tralee CBS v Colaiste Chriost Ri
ONE novel feature of this game will see Marc Ó Sé and Paul Kerrigan (Chriost Ri) on the sideline with both teams but for the Green, Saturday’s match marks the first time in five years that they have reached the penultimate stage. Team mentor Mike Tim O’Sullivan acknowledges that the win over IS Killorglin in the Quarter-Finals was hard earned.
“The school probably has underperformed in the competition in recent years but it’s the nature of the knock-out stages I find in that it can turn your form in the Group Stages on its head. The break between them seem to affect us before the Killorglin game as we felt a bit rusty in the first-half but having said that Killorglin played very well on the day and a few things just happened to go our way in the second-half before we went on to win,” he said.
Chriost Ri will be the third Cork side that Tralee CBS will have faced in this year’s Corn Ui Mhuiri having faced both Ballincollig and Rochestown in the Group Stages. O’Sullivan says that they are expecting a tough physical challenge like what they got from the other Cork sides. “They had a great win over Rochestown in the Quarter-Finals and it was the sort of battle any side likes to come through for the matches you play afterwards. Our focus is totally on this and not anything beyond it, at this stage you have to expect a difficult challenge when it comes to a Semi-Final of a competition,” O’Sullivan feels.
One bonus for the Green in advance of Saturday is that Niall O’Mahony is back in contention for featuring having missed the Quarter-Final win over Killorglin through injury. Sean Mortimer is still ruled out however with slight concerns over Darragh Regan and Michael Scanlon in advance. Mark Cronin and Cillian Myers Murray carry most of threat for Chriost Ri in advance as Kieran Dwyer’s role for the Green on Saturday could be crucial to their chances of victory.
This will likely be the closer of the two matches on Saturday and while the Green will feel capable of winning, Chriost Ri (as the only non-Kerry School to win the Corn Ui Mhuiri this decade) will be the ones expected to come through in advance and reach their first Final since their last win in the competition back in 2011.
Verdict: Colaiste Chriost Ri