The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Just reward for
Nobody more deserves their day in the sun than a Kerry hurler, who toils hard far away from the limelight, writes Damian Stack
IT’S not every day a Kerry hurler is treated like a superstar. It’s not every day they walk off a pitch with cup in hand basking in the adulation of a bunch of young fans as they were on Saturday afternoon.
Alas those fans were Limerick fans – lining the tunnel to the Old Stand waiting for their heroes to emerge for the big game – and not Kerry fans. All the same it was welcome bit of appreciation for the work being done at underage level in the county.
The young Limerick fans reached down their hands and the young Kerry hurlers (and coaches) reached up with theirs. A taste of the big time for an often under-appreciated subsection of the Kerry GAA fraternity.
By that we don’t mean they’re starved of resources by the County Board – they’re not and County Board chairman Tim Murphy was present and accounted for on Saturday – more so that it can be a sometimes lonely furrow to plough at inter-county level.
There is a core of support there, men and women who support them through thick and thin, but we’re not talking huge numbers here and that’s kind of the problem for Kerry hurling writ large – we’re not talking huge numbers here.
There are just eight senior clubs clustered in the north Kerry heartland with a smattering of clubs elsewhere in the county. Great strides are being made in a lot of these places – Tralee Parnells seem to be doing trojan work – but Kerry hurling will never have the strength to draw upon that football does.
For all that Kerry has done remarkably well over the years to produce the quality of hurler it has. In this year’s senior club final on Paddy’s Day there was a Kerry man on both teams participating. The man of the match that day was from Abbeydorney.
Darragh O’Connell – along with Shane Nolan and countless others who’ve worn the green and gold at senior level – played and won All Ireland titles at this level. So make no mistake that after a couple of years without winning a title at this level Kerry needed to deliver the goods.
Make no mistake either that some of the guys who won on Sunday – including those who already have – will have big roles to play at senior level in the not so distant future. Young Shane Conway certainly passes the if you’re good enough you’re old enough test. The guy is good
enough.
“We have to start building again really,” Under 21 manager and senior selector Ian Brick said after last weekend’s match.
“We hadn’t the best year this year [at senior level], so we have to start building again, but we’d be hoping an awful lot of these guys would be contributing to the senior panel. This is going to give everybody a lift, not just these guys but the senior panel as well, we definitely needed it.”
One of the guys who’s already made the breakthrough to senior hurling is Ballyduff’s Jack Goulding. It was touch and go between him and Conway for the man of the match award and his outstanding first half – coupled with his assist of Conway’s goal – tipped it in his direction.
“Delighted now to get the win,” he said.
“It was one medal I didn’t have between Kerry minors and Under 21s and underage so I was very happy to win today. It’s up there. It’s definitely up there. Given the fact I was away for the summer I was delighted that the management called me back in for the final.
“I was delighted to win it. I didn’t think I’d start because I hadn’t much done, but it paid off today anyway thank God. It was very tough, Wicklow really brought their A game to us and we found it really hard at times, especially in the first half against the wind, but we got the goals at the vital stage and we bounced back well from their goals. I think that was the winning of the game really.”
One thing that will have really pleased the management team was how guys who hadn’t particularly impressed in the first half recovered so strongly in the second half. Jordan Brick and Barry O’Sullivan, in particular, really came into the game as the second half progressed, both making a telling contribution.
“We’ve seen ‘em in action over the last two months in terms of games and we knew it was in them, but you have to be patient with young lads I suppose,” the manager commented.
“They reaped the rewards and we’re delighted that they got there anyway. Any way we were able to get over the line we were delighted. It showed an awful lot of character when we conceded the second goal and came down straight away and scored our own goal to level the game.
“I’d say if we didn’t score that we’d have been in a little bit of trouble, but we were also able to bring fellas off the bench and they were able to make a contribution as well.”
As ever victory at B level prompts the question as to whether Kerry would be better off participating at a higher level. The idea of Kerry in the Munster Under 21 championship seems like a step to far to us, but certainly moves could be and should be made towards making the B championship more competitive (Carlow and Westmeath should be allowed to compete once they’re done with Leinster competition for instance).
“At the moment this is the level we’re at, we’d be hoping we’d be at a higher level, but at the moment we’re not,” Brick explained.
“Having said that if we were put into the A competition, training would be set up differently and the whole back-room set-up would be different as well, but it is what it is at the moment, we put in a great effort for the last three months or so. We couldn’t ask for any more from the boys.”
We’d be hoping an awful lot of these guys would be contributing to the senior panel – Ian Brick