The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Club call: Gaeltacht set for All Ireland semi-final
ALL-IRELAND CLUB IFC SEMI-FINAL
An Ghaeltacht v Moy (Tyrone)
Sunday, January 21 O’Moore Park, Portlaoise Throw-in at 2pm Referee: John Hickey (Carlow) Extra-time if necessary Live on TG4
MUCH has been made and will be made about the coming together of Sean and Colm Cavanagh with Marc Ó Sé in Sunday’s All-Ireland Club IFC semi-final, but the reality is that this contest won’t be decided by just these All-Ireland senior medal winners. At almost 38 years of age, it would be unfair on Ó Sé to think that he is now much more than a cog, albeit an experienced one, in this An Ghaeltacht team. Sean Cavanagh will be 35 next month, and though he only retired from inter-county football late last summer, he can’t be expected to carry his Moy team on his broad shoulders. At 30 years of age, more will be expected from Colm Cavanagh - who is entering his 12th season as a Tyrone senior footballer - but both teams will surely have to look elsewhere for the players to get their team over the winning line in Portlaoise on Sunday.
To that end, as far as one can evaluate and compare intermediate clubs from opposite ends of the country, it appears as if An Ghaeltacht hold the advantage. Apart from the two Cavanaghs, Harry Loughren is the only other member of the Moy team who has got near Mickey Harte’s Tyrone panel. Eunan Deeney played minor for the Red Hand a couple of seasons back, but other than that they are a fairly quintessential club team. Success of any kind has been a rare bird around the Moy club, and while the romantics might divine a glorious ending on the Hogan Stand for Sean Cavanagh, there is an admission by some in Tyrone - and Colm Cavanagh - that this Moy team is already in bonus territory. That can be a dangerous thing for an opposition, but if on the law of averages the best team usually wins, then the Kerry and Munster champions seem best equipped for that.
Kerry senior panellists Brian O Beaglaoich and Cathal O’Luing, team captain Colm O’Muricheartaigh, and Padraig Óg Ó Sé surround Marc Ó Sé in a talented and tenacious defence, while former Kerry U-21 Roibeard Ó Sé partners Sean Ó Gairbhí at midfield. Tomas
Ó Sé and Eanna O Conchuir are the star turns in a lively An Ghaeltacht attack, and key to victory on Sunday will be coming somewhere close to the 21-point average they’ve been scoring through the county and provincial championships.
It will hardly surprise people down here to hear that Moy play quite a defensive game, with Colm Cavanagh often playing a sweeper-style role along the halfback line. Sean Cavanagh also has licence to roam and will be seen as much around midfield as he will at full forward where he will probably be named.
An Ghaeltacht have been scoring almost six points more than Moy in the championship, but have been conceding an average of two points more. However, much of that high scoring was done in much more benign conditions that what might be expected in O’Moore Park next Sunday. It probably won’t have helped An Ghaeltacht much that their two Munster Championship matches ended in facile wins, while Moy have come through two character-building tests against Carrickmacross and Rostrevor in the Ulster quarter-final and final respectively.
Kerry clubs have a fine record in this All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship, with five champions coming out of seven All-Ireland Final appearance. Tyrone clubs, meanwhile, have reached the final three times with Cookstown Fr Rock’s winning the title twice. Incidentally, it was Kerry teams that fell to them on both occasions, Spa in 2010 and Finuge three years late.
Those stats will count for nothing come Sunday, other than as a smart reminder that Tyrone club, as well as their county team, know how to win in Croke Park. Still, Kerry to trump Tyrone on this occasion.