From revamp?
in-a-row, Kieran McCarthy and his management group have done much to maintain the standards set by his predecessor Maurice Fitzgerald and his own group who brought the club to Croke Park for the second time in six years.
The man who brought them there first, Peter Keane, has assumed the hot-seat with the Kerry seniors but the players themselves appeared to have continued the standards set initially in continuing the club’s dominance.
From Dromid’s point of view, there will be no complaints about what happened on the day but maybe some wonder if they should have looked for a neutral venue for the game. It probably would not have made any difference to the result, but it might have been a closer game as Bryan Sheehan felt the earlier playing of the game this year and the better condition of pitches suited the way St Marys wanted to play on a lot of fronts.
Dromid say goodbye to Denis ‘Shine’ O’Sullivan on the playing front. He embodied the South Kerry tradition of players taking lead roles in the running of their clubs and his heart and determination epitomised a club well capable of punching above their weight when it came to contention for major honours.
Dromid could just do with that extra injection of energy to get them over the line, especially on the days you can match your opponent’s physicality and effort.
Overall with five South Kerry clubs in Division Four next year - Waterville, Skellig Rangers, St Michaels/Foilmore, Renard and Valentia - it looks to be a tough ask for many outside of Dromid to challenge St Marys bid for history down south in attempting a sixth consecutive title. Looking a bit further down the line maybe it is time for a revamp of the competition to be considered.
With the Kenmare District Board Championship unplayed over the last number of years, should the entry of Templenoe be considered for the Jack Murphy Cup competition? They play South Kerry League (they lost the final of same to Dromid this year) where the divisional boundaries don’t matter as much. At a time when there is a review of the districts in general and County Secretary Peter Twiss has asked the boards to think outside the box in the running of their competitions could this inject a bit of new life into the South Kerry Championship?
That’s for another day though as St Marys continue to rule the roost strongly in their own patch and still with a sense of being able to achieve more at a higher level as well!
Jason O’Connor
DEFEAT is never easy for any side but maybe the only consolation for Dromid on Saturday was that it was not as agonising as last year in Portmagee when a free coming back off a post arguably led to them eventually losing by narrowest of margins.
Their manager Declan O’Sullivan wilfully admitted it was St Marys day last Saturday.
“St Marys played well and were really on form today. We are disappointed especially seeing our we felt our preparation