The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Could Championship benefit from revamp?
Jason O’Connor asks if the South Kerry championship could benefir from a revamp with maybe Templenoe competing for the Jack Murphy Cup
MAYBE the most interesting thing in reflecting on St Marys bridging a 74-year gap in becoming the first side from both club and district to win the Jack Murphy Cup five years in succession since 1944 was that the closest anyone came to beating them this year in their own patch was the only other side to win the competition this decade, St Michaels/Foilmore.
Although not the side they were when they were dining at Kerry’s top table between 2009 and 2015, St Michaels/Foilmore were level with St Marys after 40 minutes of their opening round encounter.
Two frees from Bryan Sheehan and a Daniel Daly point were enough for St Marys to withstand a strong late effort from the hosts in trying to replicate their 2013 semi-final win over the Cahersiveen side. That still stands as St Marys last loss in the competition with a draw against Waterville in the 2014 decider the only time they have not won a South Kerry Championship match since.
Valentia couldn’t quite follow on from their gripping win over Waterville in the opening round when it came to the semi-finals as Dromid again emerged from the pack to challenge on Final day.
Overall, it’s eight out of 10 now for St Marys in South Kerry, interesting to think back in 2009 they had not won their local Championship for six years and had to overcome two All-Ireland Club champions to win in that year in the form of St Michaels/Foilmore (semi-final) and Skellig Rangers (Final) in starting their present dominance.
Population, playing numbers and resources will always be highlighted when urban clubs dominate district Championships but there still had to be a hunger there amongst the players for it to keep going and St Marys have it strongly in players like Oisín Moran, Conor O’Shea, Bryan Sheehan, Denis Daly Aidan Walsh and Sean Cournane to name a few.
When you see players like Paulie O’Donoghue and Conor Quirke on the bench (big figures for St Marys in their All-Ireland Intermediate win of 2016) you see how much they can move on in comparison to the resources of other teams. Although they would have been disappointed to have lost an Intermediate semi-final at county level for the second-year-
in-a-row, Kieran McCarthy and his management group have done much to maintain the standards set by his predecessor Maurice Fitzgerald and his own group who brought the club to Croke Park for the second time in six years.
The man who brought them there first, Peter Keane, has assumed the hot-seat with the Kerry seniors but the players themselves appeared to have continued the standards set initially in continuing the club’s dominance.
From Dromid’s point of view, there will be no complaints about what happened on the day but maybe some wonder if they should have looked for a neutral venue for the game. It probably would not have made any difference to the result, but it might have been a closer game as Bryan Sheehan felt the earlier playing of the game this year and the better condition of pitches suited the way St Marys wanted to play on a lot of fronts.
Dromid say goodbye to Denis ‘Shine’ O’Sullivan on the playing front. He embodied the South Kerry tradition of players taking lead roles in the running of their clubs and his heart and determination epitomised a club well capable of punching above their weight when it came to contention for major honours.
Dromid could just do with that extra injection of energy to get them over the line, especially on the days you can match your opponent’s physicality and effort.
Overall with five South Kerry clubs in Division Four next year - Waterville, Skellig Rangers, St Michaels/Foilmore, Renard and Valentia - it looks to be a tough ask for many outside of Dromid to challenge St Marys bid for history down south in attempting a sixth consecutive title. Looking a bit further down the line maybe it is time for a revamp of the competition to be considered.
With the Kenmare District Board Championship unplayed over the last number of years, should the entry of Templenoe be considered for the Jack Murphy Cup competition? They play South Kerry League (they lost the final of same to Dromid this year) where the divisional boundaries don’t matter as much. At a time when there is a review of the districts in general and County Secretary Peter Twiss has asked the boards to think outside the box in the running of their competitions could this inject a bit of new life into the South Kerry Championship?
That’s for another day though as St Marys continue to rule the roost strongly in their own patch and still with a sense of being able to achieve more at a higher level as well!