The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Hurlers and Ladies ready for League action
New Kerry hurling captain Bryan Murphy has his eye firmly set on a return to the league final
HE’S just one of those guys you’d want alongside you in the trenches. Hard as nails. Strong and tall with the right constitution for battle. He’s definitely the sort of player you want on your side rather than against you.
The full-back has been a fixture on the team since the early part of the last decade – playing in two Christy Ring Cup finals in 2014 and 2015 – and in the last three or four seasons has grown into a real presence on the edge of the square, improving all the time.
One of those first names down on the team-sheet kinda players. Dependable, solid, you know what you’re going to get when Bryan Murphy is in the side. You can see why they made him Kerry captain, a perfect choice for the role. Level-headed – the man is a Garda after all – with a natural air of authority, leadership becomes the Causeway man.
Murphy has been around the block long enough now to know a good set-up when he sees one, so when he enthuses about the value of the stability and continuity brought to the table by Fintan O’Connor you know he’s talking sense.
“Stability is an important factor,” he says.
“He kind of knows us all well at this stage. He has been here, what, the last three or four years, so he knows most players strengths and weaknesses in relation to the leaders in the dressing room and the guys on the field.
“Continuity is an important factor and the fact that he is with the Under 20s as well, a lot of good young hurlers coming through and I know Fintan has taken an interest as well in the under age structure inside the county.
“So there’s a lot of managers that will come in and might not take an interest on what’s coming down the line in the future so I suppose that’s a positive aspect. It’s great to have Brendan Cummins stuck in the management set up as well.
“When he opens his mouth in the dressing room you listen. He is a man of great wisdom in relation to the game of hurling. We are training very hard, and, we are training since the end of October.
“John Barry is doing a fantastic job with the physical side of it in relation to the gym work and the running [and] Brian Culbert is doing great work in relation to the hurling. To be honest we haven’t done too much hurling up to date so far, so that’s something we will be working on as the league progresses.”
Kerry hurling might not have the same profile as its big ball brother, but don’t for a moment think that means the commitment level required is somehow less. These guys put in a serious amount of effort.
“I can only speak for myself,” Murphy says.
“I am travelling from Cork City, I am working up there as a Garda and I work shift work as well. I have a good relationship with Fintan and he knows if I can’t make it down I am doing the work that I can up in Cork, whether it be training with a club or doing a gym session or a wall ball session, he knows that fellows are putting in the work. It’s a lot of commitment, you are talking the bones of six days a week, in relation to two, three collective sessions, a challenge game at the weekend, gym sessions on your own and your recovery work.
“I saw the likes of Philip Mahony from Waterford, he is only twenty eight, he is a year older than myself and he has packed it in already. You can understand that fellows, maybe they want to be focussing on their career, to focus on college work, a Masters, or things like that.
“You can understand that as well, that guys have to live a life, but you try and give it your all, maybe, another couple of years down the line we will keep it going, but you can understand where people are coming from in relation to that.”
All that hard work means that this bunch of Kerry hurlers is eager to achieve, eager to push on to the next level, to do what they didn’t last year and claim the Division 2A title. Easier said than done, of course, this should again be a competitive division.
“Obviously Mayo in the first game, if you can start with a good win that day it builds confidence for the Offaly game,” Murphy says.
“You have maybe two of the biggest games at home, Offaly in the second game and then Antrim in the last game. Offaly and Antrim would be big names in the hurling world, they won’t be easy to beat, but in relation to Meath, Mayo and Wicklow, you would realistically be hoping to take wins in those three games and maybe coming into the last game at home to Antrim you would hope to have guaranteed yourself a league final spot.
“Last year in Tralee we felt we didn’t perform to our best on the day in question [against Offaly]. We had a lot of wides that day and we still won by three or four points in the end. I know there was up to two thousand supporters at the county championship final and I don’t think there is any reason that Kerry hurling supporters shouldn’t come out in numbers and support the team in big games like that.
“These games will come down to one or two points and, hopefully, we will come out the right side of it.”
Murphy is enthused by the make-up for the Kerry squad this year.
“You have a good mix of youth and experience,” he says.
“Shane [Nolan] is back, a great hurler and a great servant for Crotta and Kerry. Shane Conway, there’s no need to say anything about him, everybody knows what a fantastic hurler he is. Guys like Jordan Conway, Michael Slattery, you have Michael Leane back in the fold this year, he was carrying an injury last year, a fantastic hurler from Ballyheigue.
“You have Fionán Mackessy and Eric Leen as well, back in, Dan Goggin and Jamesy O Connor will be back when Na Gaeil have hopefully completed the All Ireland Junior success. And obviously you have younger fellows coming through, like Sean Sheehan from my own club Causeway.
“Jason Diggins wasn’t there for the championship last year and probably, was the best player in the county championship this year at centre-back. You want the best fifteen players in the county on the field.
“We actually had a team meeting between ourselves in the last couple of weeks and we have decided we will be doing two collective sessions a week during the month of April, apart from the club sessions and the football games and we will prioritise Kerry because at the end of the day we want to be playing in Croke Park in the summer months, that’s when you want to be hurling.
“Look at Laois last year, the fantastic summer they had, and, we feel that we are every bit as good as Laois. We beat them by ten points the year before and they went on to play Tipperary in the All Ireland quarter final.
“We just think ourselves why can’t we reach that level. We have the commitment, we have the players, we have the talent, so, our goal really is first of all to win every game as we go along, and look, if we can get to a League final and win that it would be a fantastic boost for the county and for this team in particular.
“I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be in a League final, and, in a Joe McDonagh final and as everyone knows, anything can happen on the day of a final. We have the work-rate, it’s just to knuckle down and have the confidence within ourselves, just to know that we are good enough.
“We have the ability to push on and make this year a successful year. I know, we haven’t won silverware in a couple of years, but, we know it’s there, we know the players are there. People are always putting Kerry hurling down, but, we know within our circle that we are as strong as any other county at our level in the country, so, we just have to drive it on.”