Bittersweet nomination for classy Killian
GREYSTONES RFC senior captain Killian Marmion has described being nominated for the AIL Player of the Year award as a ‘great honour for myself and the club’, although he admitted that it came as bittersweet news following the tragic passing of Andrew Kenny, who played with Greystones’ third team.
Last week, Marmion was named as part of a five-man shortlist for the Energia AIL Men’s Player of the Year gong, alongside Miah Cronin (Highfield), Brad Roberts (Rainey OB), Paul Loghlan (Skerries), and eventual winner Brian Hayes (Cork Institution).
Reacting to his nomination, Marmion – who was named as captain of Greystones for the 2020 campaign - said that he was initially surprised to be named.
‘It meant a lot to me because it was my first year as captain,’ he told the Wicklow People.
‘It was a bit of a shock at first, to be honest, because I didn’t think I had done anything out of the ordinary or play my best season.
‘It was a credit to the team and the coaches because we had a really good start and kind of fell off as time wore on, but we won our first five games in a row, were playing quite well, lost two and then got back to winning ways.’
The news came at a very bittersweet time for both Marmion and the club as a whole.
The same day that Killian learned of his nomination, the funeral of Andrew Kenny was taking place. The 29-year-old had sadly passed away on May 3 following a long illness.
‘It was weird because, even though it was good news, it was still very sad for everyone involved in the club.
‘He played for the third team and coached the third team, and he was one of the lads who was always at the bar afterwards. He was a very good lad.’
Marmion has been with the club since under-8s and has played with the seniors since 2013. Reflecting on his time as a senior player, he admits that this season was up there as his finest.
Due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, the 2019/20 season was brought to an abrupt halt.
As of the premature end, Greystones were sitting in sixth place in Division 2B of the All-Ireland League, with seven wins and seven defeats from 14 games.
If the league was in a position to play out the remainder of the games, Marmion insisted that Greystones would have been in a position to replicate the class of 2016 and gain promotion from the division.
‘Obviously, the 2016 season where we got promoted from 2B would probably be the best. I won player of the year with Greystones that year, so it would probably be the best for me, personally.
‘There were a good few young lads and we made a really good start. I know that we fell off in the middle but I really think that we would have made a push at the end of the season and definitely gotten into the play-offs.
‘Looking back, there were definitely a few games that we went into not fully concentrating. As I said, we had a good start and there was a slight air of complacency coming in after the five wins in-a-row, so that combined with injuries and stuff, led to a few losses for us.
‘We had done so well the year before and lost in the play-offs, so we wanted to put that right.’