RATHMORE STUN CROKES TO BREATHE LIFE INTO COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
Damian Stack takes a look back at a sometimes difficult weekend for the County Senior Football Championship
THANK God for Rathmore.
No, no don't get us wrong here. We're not espousing some sort of anti-Crokes sentiment. It didn't give us pleasure to see Dr Crokes beaten for the sake of seeing Dr Crokes being beaten. It gave us pleasure for the simple reason that it gave us a positive story to tell this week.
All of a sudden we've got a championship worth talking about, a championship rejuvenated. We've got a Dr Crokes team now with a point to prove – who could have imagined such a thing before the rumble in Rathbeg?
We've got a Rathmore side who are instantly elevated to the status of contenders. We've got every other serious contender for the title looking on with huge interest. Some will feel buoyed. The air of invincibility so long associated with Dr Crokes has been dented. All of a sudden the black and amber ubermensch look like mere mortals once more.
For others their defeat will only serve to make the Crokes more dangerous and intimidating. They're down but by no means out. They'll hardly be beaten twice in the one season, the logic goes, this was the absolute worst time of the year for them for Crokes to lose a game (and the best, of course, for the denizens of Lewis Road).
Until news of that result filtered through on Sunday evening it hadn't been a hugely encouraging start to this year's championship. The championship had a disjointed start – owing to hurling and to the Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta – and on the very first weekend of action we had our very first controversy: extra-time not played when it should have been, confusion all round.
Then last Saturday afternoon, before even a ball had been thrown-in and caught or kicked in anger, the venerable old competition suffered another setback. At two minutes past two a press release from the County Board confirmed that the first round clash between Dingle and Kenmare in Pairc an Aghasaigh would not be played. Kenmare couldn't field a team.
That really is a sad state of affairs. That a district board, composed of four clubs (Kenmare, Templenoe, Tousist and Kilgarvan), couldn't field a team of fifteen players (plus a handful of subs) is something very hard to wrap your head around.
The official Kenmare Shamrocks (to be clear that's the club, not the district) official Twitter account cited “the unavailability and lack of interest from some players” as the reason why the district con-
ceded the fixture to Dingle. The unavailability you can understand, but it's the “lack of interest” that should really concern the powers that be.
That their premier competition isn't, apparently, of interest to some of the county's best players is a massive problem. No equivocation. Even while accepting that with the review of the championship now underway things will change, it's still worth asking how things were left get to this point.
Meanwhile, it was striking to see a Feale Rangers team without a single Finuge man on the pitch. An injury to Pat Corridan robbed him of a chance to line out in Frank Sheehy Park on Sunday afternoon and the Christy Ring Cup ruled out John Griffin's participation, but still it seemed incongruous to us.
A couple of weeks ago Listowel Emmets visited O'Sullivan Park in Finuge and came out the wrong side of a tight contest. On Sunday there were ten Listowel men on the team and, like we've said, not a single Finuge man. There's something not quite right about those maths, whatever the reason for it, you've got to agree.
Sunday afternoon in Listowel may have exploded Feale Rangers' status as dark horses for the championship, but, perhaps, it gave birth to a new era for Shannon Rangers. Under the management of Liam Weir and Mike Holly – not forgetting the training of Duagh man Padraig Dillon – they looked a real team.
It was just the fillip they needed and with their hurlers to return to the fold following the Christy Ring Cup – and the return of former Kerry minor Paud Costello from injury – they should be an even stronger proposition in the third round.
Lest we be accused of excessive negativity let us say that their game with Kilcummin was what we should expect of county championship football. Fast and furious, skillful and hard-fought and above all else passionate. The games between Legion and East Kerry and Mid Kerry and St Kierans likewise.
Decent football, a bit of cut and thrust, passion and commitment, that's what people want. That's what people want to be talking about, not whether extra-time should or shouldn't have been played or why a district isn't able to field a team.
So thank God for Rathmore shaking things up. They gave the championship a reboot just when it needed it most.