All-Ireland club title is decade in making

reflects on Beaufort’s All-Ireland win, which is the culmination of an effort that goes back almost a decade

IN life in general there will be a lot of reflecting on the decade before we finish off 2019 and move into 2020 vision in essence! However, it’s to the end of the last decade we go first in telling Beaufort’s back story to their greatest day so far last Saturday. That year saw them lose the 2009 County Junior final to Castlegregory in July with Peter Keane managing the Mid Kerry club at the time. It’s amazing that even though Keane and Beaufort parted company with each other after that year, they have both returned into different but equally interesting spotlights in the county.

Around that time Beaufort had finished a major off-the-field development of their facilities with the club trying to bring a great underage system forward to senior level and bring the club back to a time when its reputation was respected and feared in equal measure as the names of Brendan Lynch and Mary Jo Curran were the ones most associated with it.

It took a drop to Division 4 of the County League after 2013 for the project to really get off the ground though. Club and Mid Kerry stalwart Tim Coffey got it going by bringing them back to Division 3, but it was when they fended off plenty of interest in the services of their own Gary McGrath for 2016 that it all started to get a bit more concrete around the club.

Saturday, November 26 of that year was a significant day in the road to last Saturday’s outing in Croke Park. They beat Kerry Premier Junior champions at the time, Glenbeigh/Glencar, to reach their first Mid Kerry Final in nine years and their first title since McGrath’s own playing days in 1998 followed with victory over Milltown/Castlemaine in the decider. It was easy for doubters to say Glenbeigh/ Glencar were distracted by a Munster Junior Final the following week and that Milltown/Castlemaine’s best days were behind them after their own day of glory in 2012. However, when Beaufort retained the district title the following year, coming back from a massive deficit at one point to Glenbeigh/ Glencar, the sense was that this team did actually mean business.

McGrath’s decision to walk away was one that surprised many, especially with a sense that the job was not quite finished. It was one that was respected, however, as his lieutenant Éanna O’Malley stepped up to the plate. O’Malley might not have been a well-known name outside the club, but he was well aided by prominent figures in the club such as Ken O’Sullivan and Maurice Foley amongst others in overseeing one of the most time structured All-Ireland Club successes with all the changes the

2018 GAA calendar brought with it.

Their Premier Junior Final with Na Gaeil has been referenced a lot, but it truly was everything you would want from a major final in terms of drama, skill, excitement, determination and bravery.

Indeed, when Beaufort captain Nathan Breen tells you he watched the DVD of that match peering through his fingers despite knowing the outcome of it all, it tells you how gripping it was. Breen’s great speech in accepting the Cup last Saturday was even more remarkable considering he is Welsh born and only took up the game at 13 years of age when he moved to Ireland.

Twenty-seven weeks passed before Beaufort received their reward for the win over Na Gaeil in becoming the sixth and final Mid Kerry club to make the voyage into Munster. Ballylooby/Castlegrace and Michael Cusacks of Clare were write-offs as contests but maybe it’s better overall that teams that are actual county champions go forward to Munster and not representative sides like those two sides were.

Dromtariffe of Cork had little to draw on only what fellow Duhallow side Knocknagree had done the previous year in ending Kerry’s domination of the competition, but a giant-killing appeared to be on the cards when they had a sizeable lead over Beaufort in the second half of the Munster Final in Mallow.

Sheer will and assuredness got Beaufort out of their predicament after extra-time and send them onto Portlaoise to face Dundalk Young Irelands. A physical and mentally tough battle ensued which Beaufort had enough to deal with before the glitter was sprinkled in beating Easkey they way they did.

Not since the playing days of Dan Doona has the club had a serious senior inter-county contender for Kerry, but Liam Carey and Mike Breen surely did enough to at least peak the interest of former manager Keane now that their club commitments have concluded for the moment.

Closer to home for Beaufort though is the prospect of maybe having to find a new goalkeeper for themselves should Mike Moriarty decide to hang up the boots and gloves. It was poignant not to see him in goal for Mid Kerry in the County Championship last year and no one would begrudge him the decision to go out on a high should he walk away after some stellar service to his club.

Bar Beaufort it was not a great 2018 for Mid Kerry GAA in general but the decade will be remembered well by three of their clubs in Milltown/Castlemaine, Glenbeigh/ Glencar and Beaufort reaching the presentation area of the Hogan Stand, just as Laune Rangers did in 1996. Keel and Cromane had their attempts at glory during the decade as well but for Beaufort an interesting carrot is now dangling before them.

They look a serious prospect for a crack at the county intermediate championship title in time and with the strength of what they have at present and the prospect of more to come with the growth in population around the area, the chance of joining Ardfert and St Marys in doing the Junior and Intermediate appears to be very much on the cards.