Wide open championship will be hard fought and hard won

THERE’S something a little bit special about the North Kerry senior football championship.

It’s the thing that gets the place talking. It’s the thing that brings out the crowds as the nights draw in and the weather worsens. The North Kerry championship shortens the winter and not just for those lucky enough to win the lovely old thing.

Even for those whose clubs rarely win or even for those whose clubs never win at all – we still have three without that honour, down from four following St Senans’ triumph last year – the championship retains its allure.

It’s not the case that once your club is beaten that’s it, time to withdraw to privacy of your own home and pull the curtains. No the championship is as much for the neutral as the partisan. The crowds who follow it around the towns and villages of the district testify to that.

The interest this year seems even stronger than normal. Probably because of how open the championship appears. Ahead of last year’s championship there was a feeling that it was Ballydonoghue’s to lose, ahead of this year’s championship there’s no such certainty.

You could sensibly construct a case for four or five or even six of the fourteen teams in the championship and even then there remains the possibility of a bolter. It’s not altogether unknown for a team to come out of nowhere and gain momentum along the way. All it takes is one day and one game to go a club’s way and they can reach lift off.

St Senans win last year – not that they were a bolter themselves per se – proves as much. Their first round win over Listowel Emmets on their home patch set them up very nicely indeed for a push for what was then Ballydonoghue’s crown.

One of the big questions this year – if not the big question – is whether St Senans can do enough to retain the title they waited so long to possess? They certainly could and they’ll be amongst the favourites, but we think the field is more likely to prevail than them.

Ballydonoghue are looking formidable again following their promotion to Division 2 of the County League and they’re not going to want the manner of their final defeat to St Senans last year stand.

What of Listowel Emmets? And, for that matter, Castleisland Desmonds? Whoever emerges from that first round tussle later this month is going to be formidable whatever way you look at it. That said if Emmets win it you’d expect them to be that bit more competitive, if only because tradition suggests as much. St Senans, Ballydonoghue, Listowel Emmets and Desmonds would seem to be the best placed sides to challenge, but outside of those Finuge and Duagh look in pretty good shape, Brosna won’t be far away, while Ballyduff are very credible contenders for any competition they enter.

As we say this thing is wide open and probably that is what makes the North Kerry championship the jewel in the district championship crown. It’s the most democratic in a way. The championship with the teams closest together. There’s no behemoths (not at the moment anyway) hoovering up all before them. In North Kerry everyone has a shot.

Let the games commence.

St. Senan’s Captain Sean Dillon holding up the trophy after their victory over Ballydonoghue in the North Kerry final at Con Brosnan Park, Moyvane last year Photo by Domnick Walsh / Eye Focus