The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
The Green and The Sem bid for Munster honours
MUNSTER U-19 ‘A’ SFC (CORN UÍ MHUIRÍ) FINAL
St. Brendan’s Killarney v Tralee CBS Saturday, February 22 2pm in Fitzgerald Stadium
THERE has been a recent and welcome upsurge in colleges football, with Abbeyfeale winning the 2018 Dunloe Shield, PS Inbhearr Sceine winning the 2018 Dunloe Cup, and Milltown winning this year’s Dunloe Cup. PS Chorca Dhuibhne burst on the scene almost ten years ago and went on to become one of the greatest college teams of all time, while SP Sliabh Luachra were Nonetheless no-one can argue that it’s two traditional giants that face each other in Munster’s senior A Final.
The Sem have a record 22 titles, while the Green are joint second on the list with 15, and the history of the two schools at this level stretches back to classic matches between them as far back as the 1930s.
Both were favourites to emerge from the group stage and had qualified after their first two matches – although both sides struggled to put away a young but talented Killorglin who has also given the Sem a great battle in the O’Sullivan Cup.
Supporters of The Sem can point to the school’s victory in that competition and their victory over Tralee CBS in the group game. That group game between the two was probably the best game in this year’s competition – the Green left some good scoring chances behind them in that game and should still have closed it out. The Sem finished stronger with the last three points to snatch victory.
That’s been a real feature of this Sem team, slow to kick into gear, but very hard to stop once they do so. It happened against both Sliabh Luachra and IS Killorglin in the O’Sullivan Cup and it’s a habit they just can’t seem to shake. A very strong and unified defence has been their linchpin, while they have a formidable midfield pairing. On paper they have deadly forwards but (a relatively poor Críost Rí aside) their scoring return hasn’t matched its obvious potential. In other words, they have struggled to put weaker teams away so far, but have still won every game they have played this year.
The Green were certainly not fully up to speed in the O’Sullivan Cup, but they have improved immeasurably since then. That defeat against St. Brendans in the group stage might seem like a huge dent to their chances – I strongly feel that it will incentivise them.
They could, and I would feel should, have won that one and it will act as a spur next Saturday. Their quarter-final against Hamilton HS, Bandon was a real potential banana-skin. No-one knew too much about Bandon except that they were blowing teams like the reigning champions PS Chorca Dhuibhne in the group stage and that they featured a number of All-Ireland winning Cork minors. It made no difference – Tralee CBS blew them away, outscoring them by 3-8 to 0-2 in the second half.
The semi-final was another sparkling performance. Sliabh Luachra really put it up to them, but the Green looked in control until a black card sin-binning turned the tide and Sliabh Luachra brought the game into extra-time. That was only a minor blip, as The Green calmly and clinically closed the game out.