Ballyduff up against it

MUNSTER CLUB IHC SEMI-FINAL Ballyduff v Kanturk Sunday, November 5 Austin Stack Park, 1pm

THE wait for a breakthrough continues, but for how much longer? Could 2017 be the year a provincial club title wings its way to the Kingdom for the first time. Ballyduff of course have already been trailblazers.

They were the first club to reach a Munster intermediate club final and they repeated the feat the following season. Those twin defeats to Effin (in Newcastlewest) and Silvermines (in Thurles) were tough defeats to take, but they did show that Kerry clubs should have no inferiority complex at this level.

Kerry clubs can compete. Kilmoyley’s victory over Monaleen and creditable performance – albeit heavily dependant upon Daniel Collins for scores – against Lismore in the Munster final was another step along the road.

A victory for a Kerry team will happen sooner rather than later... so why not this year? Why not indeed. In both county finals (drawn and replay), Ballyduff showed enough quality to suggest they can compete at this level.

They’ve got some really top class defenders – guys like Paud Costello, Pádraig O’Grady and the man of the match in last weekend’s county league final, Ally O’Connor – they’ve got a strong presence around the middle of the park – Daniel and Anthony O’Carroll, Jack Goulding too if he drops deep – and some real quality in the forwards.

That’s the big difference between Ballyduff and Kilmoyley. Kilmoyley proved wholly dependant upon Collins. The same shouldn’t be the case for Ballyduff. Last weekend all four Boyle brothers found the back of the net, while Jack O’Sullivan is developing nicely into a very effective performer.

Kanturk, of course, have a hell of a lot of quality of their own to call upon as Ballyduff chairman Liam Ross was keen to stress this week even if he admits not being overly familiar with the Cork kingpins.

“We know that Anthony Nash is in goals for them and Lorcan McLoughlin, he played for Cork. Aidan Walsh as well,” he said.

“I know they have other commitments this weekend, the Intermediate football final [which they won] so, look, I suppose it’s no different than when we went down to play Courcey Rovers in Macroom a couple of years ago, we knew nothing about them.

“Our fellows won’t be in dread of it, we are going to give it our all on the day. We will take one game at a time. Look, hopefully our fellows won’t be found wanting, we will hopefully get over that hurdle first, if we win it, great, we will then be in another Munster final and, have another cut off of that again.”

Kanturk, meanwhile, have had a hectic schedule in recent months, competing for county titles in both football and hurling. Last weekend they saw off Mitchelstown in the County Intermediate Football final, having the previous weekend taken care of St Marys in Munster.

Seventeen of the nineteen players used against Mitchelstown in the football final last Sunday are on the hurling panel. Earlier in the Cork championship, Kanturk bettered some bogey opposition to better Castlelyons, Charleville and Ballinhassig before accounting for Mallow.

In between, there is been plenty of football involvement yet Kanturk boss Jim McCarthy is happy that the panel haven’t dropped their intensity over recent weeks.

Key players to the Kanturk line up are the experienced Anthony Nash, Lorcán McLoughlin and Aidan Walsh, while Darren Browne figured on the county Under 21 side and Ryan Walsh, a Cork minor footballer 2017 along with his brothers Paul and Ian (cousins of Aidan) add to the growing reputation of the Cork champions.

However, McCarthy is under no illusion as to the task on hand on Sunday, facing up to the highly experienced Kerry senior champions bidding to secure a passage to their third provincial Intermediate Final in the current decade.

“Ballyduff are the Kerry senior champions and north Kerry is a hotbed for hurling and certainly we won’t be underestimating them given their experience in the competition.

“Ballyduff along with the likes of Lixnaw and Kilmoyley are very good sides and all take their hurling seriously, we face a difficult task in Austin Stack Park to obtain a result,” McCarthy said.

Ballyduff won’t give the visitors to Tralee anything easy, but one suspects that Kanturk’s momentum might prove decisive.

Verdict: Kanturk

Ballyduff are the Kerry senior champions and north Kerry is a hotbed for hurling – Jim McCarthy