The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Experience steadied the Saints ship
ST Brendans selector Jeremiah Clifford expressed the view that a mixture of young and old, the level of their goalscoring, the overall strength of the squad, the significance of their semi final win over Causeway and, the impact made by some key individuals were vital factors with some of these players maybe featuring in the Senior semi-final against Lixnaw on Sunday September 24.
“They got off to an explosive start, they caught us a bit on the hop. We were slow out of the blocks but, look, we have been scoring goals all of the year, the inside forward line, Gearoid (Sheehan), Brendan (O’Connor) and Shane (Griffin) are all goal getters, and I suppose goals win matches, so we got them at the right times. Shane (Griffin) came on board this year. We were struggling and in fairness to him he put his weight behind the wheel. Conor Flaherty came back, Eamonn Corridan came back down to us, and they steadied up the ship. It was great for the young fellows to be playing with these guys. They were heroes to them, they were watching them in Croke Park winning matches, they were only young lads, so it was great to see them playing together.
“We were out of it a couple of years, this year we were lucky, everybody stayed around. We lost nobody to America, and I suppose in fairness to the Senior panel, we lost a couple at the start of the year, and we lost no more after that. We were very lucky the Senior panel were good to us now in fairness, I have to compliment them for that.
“Causeway were always a kind of a bogey team for us, a monkey on our back for a lot of years, and we couldn’t get over the line with them. But this year we managed it, and we knew after beating Causeway we said it would take a good team to beat us. We were just delighted to get over the line. It’s a long time, twenty-one years waiting. The likes of Brendan (O’Connor) you would think will (step up to the Senior squad), absolutely outstanding today. Eoghan Kearney as well, Padraig Kearney, they all played very well. (Jack) McCarthy played well, these are young players who are willing to step up to the mark, just to drive on for the Lixnaw match in two weeks time. Some of these fel-
lows here might never again play with each other. Intermediate is a funny kind of a grade, you could have a completely different team next year, so this is special for the boys to be all here together.”
Kilgarvan selector John Foley concurred with the assessment that the first half goals ultimately decided the issue. It was a learning experience for a lot of his young players, and, for the Club, who are going in the right direction, with the work being undertaken at under age.
“They did, (the first half goals), there was a few breaking balls inside, and, we weren’t alert enough, they got on to the breaks, and scored those three early goals, and that was the difference. We were fighting an uphill battle, there was a very strong wind in the first half as well, to be fair. In the second half we did well, but it was too much of a lead to fight back, it was too much of an ask really.
“Now, a lot of our lads are young, hopefully they will learn from the experience and come back again. Having said that, Ardfert had a panel of thirty-four players in an Intermediate team, and they are a super team to be fair to them, so we were always going to be under pressure. We had three or four injuries going into the game and I think the day caught up with us big time, to be fair. Our underage is very good at the moment, and hopefully over the next few years we will get stronger every year, and that’s our primary aim, to build on this, to be back again, and hopefully take it from there.”