The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
‘We’re going in under the radar’ – O’Sullivan
WE suppose it can’t really be done any other way, but it’s still a curious position for a club to find itself in.
Before a ball has been kicked in this year’s senior football championship, Kenmare Shamrocks find themselves in a relegation battle. Promotion and relegation is adjudicated on by club championship and the Shamrocks didn’t have a good club championship.
“I suppose it was a kind of slow start to the year for ourselves,” Kenmare half-back Shane O’Sullivan explains.
“We were missing a good few from last year, a good few were travelling, a few injuries and training wasn’t going as well. When you start off with a bad start then things don’t really kick on from there.
“One defeat then and the thing started rolling. The next thing we found ourselves in a relegation battle.
“Thankfully it’s at the end of the year and we’ll have the likes of the boys back – Stephen O’Brien and Seánie O’Shea and the rest of them.
“We’ll kick on from there, train hard for the next month and see how it goes.”
How it effects Kenmare’s thinking and attitude to this championship we’re not sure. Qualifying for a final means you’re exempt from relegation, but it’s not like they weren’t going to be going gung-ho for a place in the final anyway.
All the same it’s all very different to how the Shamrocks came into last year’s county championship.
“There was a big roll on from the year before with the intermediate semi-final and we gained some fitness from that and just kicked on from there and the next thing we’re in a quarter-final, semi-final and then we were at a final against Crokes,” O’Sullivan explains.
“We were just playing with no fear and got
to a county final, kicked on from there and unlucky on the day, extra-time, lost by three points but this year is another year.”
It shouldn’t be forgotten either that a good number of these Shamrock players have experience of playing in a county final with the district.
“I was a member of the panel,” O’Sullivan says.
“I wasn’t starting or anything like that, but it was a good experience in fairness and hopefully will stand to us some bit this coming year. I felt it stood to us last year in the first year in championship, but hopefully it’ll stand to us now again.”
As enjoyable as an experience as that was nothing beats playing in championship as a stand alone outfit.
“It was always the goal from day one to be a senior club on your own. It’s something like 1960 the last time we were there, I’m not too sure exactly when, but it’s been a great experience,” he says.
“Any game in the county championship is always good. A big game, we relish it and going into it now we’ll relish going in against South Kerry where-ever it’s on, Valentia, Waterville, Cahersiveen.
“County Championship always gives you that bite, gives you the hunger inside in the belly and we look forward to it now in fairness. We’ll take any game as it comes, it’s senior county championship, any game is going to be tough.
“They’ve [South Kerry] a number of clubs to chose from, very high profile players, we’ll just concentrate on our own game.
“We’re going in under the radar to be honest with you.”