The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Captain who leads by deeds not words
ENTERING off the back of a lot of praise for his performance in the All-Ireland Semi-Final win over Louisburgh, Glenbeigh/Glencar captain Colin McGuillycuddy has proved to be an assured presence for the Mid Kerry side on a long, hard and at times painful road out of Kerry in the hope of eventually reaching Croke Park. Described by Darran O’Sullivan as a captain who leads by example rather than by words, McGuillycuddy is enjoying a journey that started in a lot of ways for the club with four Mid Kerry U-21 titles leading on to a senior success in the district back in 2011, the first of three titles since at that level.
“Success does breed further success and it’s important to learn how to win at Championship level for further on down the line,” the midfielder believes. Watching the last five teams that defeated the club at County Junior level go on to win a Munster title at the very worst afterwards was tough to take according to McGuillycuddy. “While as a Kerry person you are happy to see them win when they go beyond the county there is a sense of disappointment that it’s not you that is experiencing it. I’m sure the teams that we beat to get here are probably feeling the same about us at the moment,” the team captain said.
When it came to this year’s campaign, McGuillycuddy felt that the focus was taken off when the club were in the County League and focussing more about what was in front of them during the Championship. “Being a Division One club we are the scalp everyone wants and no matter if you are two or three Divisions ahead of a team they can still beat you on their day if all goes right for them. St Pats/Blennerville and Ballydonoghue were the best example of that this year I felt before we got to the Final against Na Gaeil. A lot of the pressure I find is from the outside looking in and those who expect you to win solely on the basis of being a Division One side,” he said.
The drawn game against Na Gaeil was one filled with anxiety for the Mid Kerry side and while they shipped a bit of criticism for the performance against the Tralee side the first day, McGuillycuddy said that the mood in the camp wasn’t exactly one of desperation afterwards. “You have to remember that we played at least 20 minutes of that game with 13 players so to come away disappointed not to have won with such a setback wasn’t a bad thing because usually you would be relieved in such an instance not to have lost,” he felt. Glenbeigh/Glencar got it together well for the replay and though the Munster campaign went well there was one setback during that run, the loss of their Mid Kerry title to Beaufort, that McGuillycuddy said they were able to turn into a positive.
“Losing that match probably did put a bit of fire back into our belly before Gabriel Rangers and it was easy to train over Christmas when you know there is a big day coming up at the end of January and it’s an All-Ireland Semi-Final. We started poorly in Ennis but when you don’t start a game like that at 100 miles an hour you can be punished and Louisburgh were an impressive team to get to that point in the competition,” the team captain said.
Turning to the challenge of Rock St Patricks of Tyrone, McGuillycuddy agrees that it is an advantage to know that another county from the county has beaten them in the recent past, Brosna in 2015, but he feels the Tyrone side will be well up for the occasion themselves having lost the 2008 decider to Canovee of Cork.
“Any team that loses a big final will throw everything at it when they get a chance again to win it. We certainly have to match that from them on Sunday if we want to come out on top. There’s a big 60 minutes ahead of us in Croke Park before we can think about else that might happen on the day up there.”