Collins says Junior Championship might suit Gneeveguilla

GNEEVEGUILLA selector John Joe Collins was philosophical in the immediate aftermath of the club’s senior team being relegated out of the Intermediate championship and into the third tier of club football in the county.

“Junior isn’t a bad place to be really. There’s a lot of good teams there though, so it won’t be easy, but we will give it our best shot for next year,” Collins said. “We have the county league to look forward to first though, we are away to Ballylongford, there are no presents in north Kerry but hopefully we can get the win there. We will give the Junior Championship a crack next year, sure. Our neighbours Knocknagree won the Junior All-Ireland this year, they are in the same parish, so it’s up to us now to see can we bounce back next year.”

Collins felt that Patrick Carey’s goal made all the difference to the outcome of the game.

“The goal made the difference really. Once they scored that we had no come back. We can’t be too disappointed I suppose, we have a young team and we are looking to the future, especially considering the amount of players that we were missing. We will have to take it on the chin and move on.

“Laune Rangers had that extra bit of hunger in the second half, they pushed forward more, they took their scores and we missed our chances, that’s the difference in the end. We might have looked the better side but not on the scoreboard, and what matters most at the end of the day is the scoreboard. We had a good share of wides and that hurt us. We are disappointed but we did our best”.

Gneeveguilla were without eight players due to injury on Saturday but Collins said that they have a fine squad of players to choose from.

“We are cursed with injuries at the moment but we have a panel of 35 to 40 players so that’s as good as any club team in Ireland. It’s a big ask though for a Division Four side like us to play Division 1 teams, and teams like Currow in Division 2 as well. We just aren’t up to that standard at the moment, but hopefully after a while we will be knocking on the door again.”

On the other side of the fence Laune Rangers manager Timmy Fleming was very proud of his side’s performance and their determination to preserve their Intermediate status in trying circumstances.

“Our turnaround in the second half was great, these guys have shown great heart in the last few weeks,” he said. “We have had it tough, we drew games and lost games but the lads dug deep today and I’m very proud of them altogether. We have a lot of good young talent coming through as well, young Sean Arthurs came on in the corner there as well, he’s an exceptional player so the future is bright.

“We had a good field and nice weather and we moved the ball in quickly, that’s what it’s all about. We were a bit unlucky at the start not to get a goal as well but that happens.

“It’s great to be in Intermediate again next year but our focus will now turn to the county league. We are away to Lispole next, the standard in Division 3 is good so we will be up against it once more but hopefully we can get a result. The aim is to try to get back to Division 2.”