The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Na Gaeil go in search of All-Ireland silverware
IT has been a long journey over the past 20 months for Na Gaeil. From heart-breaking defeat to Beaufort (4-13 to 2-18) in the May 2018 Premier Junior county final to the brink of All-Ireland glory in January 2020 in Saturday’s decider at Croke Park (3.15pm), the perseverance of all involved has been seriously eye-catching.
“Last year, after Beaufort, we went out the following week against Milltown/Castlemaine. If we had lost that game, our season could have been totally different,” said manager Donal Rooney.
“But we went out and had a great performance. We won that game against the odds in Milltown without our county lads, and that really brought the lads back around.
“We then got our sights focused on getting promotion to Division One of the County League and we achieved that, so the season still finished positively.
“From a management point of view then, we had to assess whether we could offer anything to the lads going into a fourth year. We had a few conversations with a few lads, and so we decided to give it one bash again.
“Thankfully, it came through and we won the county title this time around. But we’re on another journey now and we’re not finished yet.”
There have been several obstacles placed in Na Gaeil’s way, most notably the long gap until the Munster Championship after the county final victory, with Kerry’s inter-county campaign and St Brendans’ progress to the county championship semi-finals obviously stalling the club’s momentum.
“I would see one of my strengths as trying to plan things but the whole St Brendans thing was difficult at the time. When I saw the St Brendans this year and the possible run that they had, I knew that they were going to go far.
“We tried to work as best we could with the Brendans management and share the players as much as we could. It worked out at the end of the day.
“I suppose my biggest worry was Kilshannig (in the Munster quarter-final). I knew that they were a very dangerous outfit and I wanted us to be as well prepared as we could be for that game. Thankfully, we played well that day and we got through it.”
Next up after that were the facile victories over Michael Cusacks and Mullinahone as Na Gaeil were crowned provincial champions, before things got a whole lot more problematic in the epic 96-minute encounter with Mayo’s Kilmaine in the All-Ireland semi-final.
“Maybe the Munster Championship was a small bit too easy for us. Let’s be honest about it. Kilshannig put it up to us a small bit for a certain period, but we hadn’t been put to the pin of our collar up to last weekend against Kilmaine,” added Rooney.
“That was an epic encounter alright. I don’t know if I’ve been involved in a game that had that level of intensity and that sense of nervousness about the whole thing from the word go. There was no time where you felt any way comfortable during that game.
“We’ve looked back on the video now and we’ve done our assessment. There’s certainly things from a coaching point of view that you wouldn’t be happy with and we’ll be working on them.
“But, at the same time, I don’t think we played quite as bad as I thought we did either. We minded the ball very well on occasions. Basically, it comes down to a few set things that we didn’t do well, and we’ll be looking to improve them for the final.
“You just have to go down to Kilmallock last week to see what can happen. Templenoe got caught and we very, very nearly got caught ourselves. If a few of their shots went over the bar in that second half of extra time, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
Even after the one-point victory over Kilmaine, the farcical nature of the January fixture situation was epitomised by Na Gaeil midfielder Diarmuid O’Connor coming on as a substitute for UCC in their Sigerson Cup opener in Galway the very next day. So much for player welfare from the powers-that-be!
“Look, everybody is talking about it. All these fixtures happening in January is a bit of madness,” stressed the Na Gaeil bainisteoir.
“Diarmuid the last day, having to play over 90 minutes at midfield, get onto a bus, come down the road for two hours, get back onto another bus to go back up the road for four hours the next day, then play 20 minutes or so and down on the bus again for another four hours.
“It’s a bit crazy but there isn’t much you can do about it. The lad loves playing football and you’re not going to stop him playing any game but you just hope it doesn’t come back to bite the GAA.
“We played Waterford seniors there in a game and I think they have lost eight or nine of their first team players from last year, and you can’t continue on in that sort of vein. There’s lads out there putting in so much effort, getting no recognition or accolades, and it’s very difficult for them.”
After all the hurdles they have had to surmount, only one remains. Rathgarogue/Cushinstown in Croker on Saturday. Donal Rooney and his men are more than ready.