County League final against Kerins O’Rahillys kicks off hectic period for Dr Crokes

COUNTY SFL DIVISION 1 FINAL

Dr Crokes v Kerins O’Rahillys

Sunday, December 2 Lewis Round, Killarney At 2pm, referee tbc

LITTLE time to celebrate or rest for the new Munster champions who are back in action this Sunday in the County League Division One final against Kerins O’Rahillys, and the possibility of five games in 20 days all going to plan.

Sunday’s home game with O’Rahillys is followed by an East Kerry SFC first round against Fossa under lights in Rathmore, with the winner out the following Sunday against Gneeveguilla in a quarter-final. A potential semi-final against Rathmore is on December 16 with the East Kerry final on December 22.

Come through all that, eat some turkey on the 25th and it’s time to start preparing for an All-Ireland semi-final on February 16 against the Leinster champions.

“You just don’t know how to really properly manage it,” selector Niall O’Callaghan said. “Last time we trained like dogs over Christmas, trained all the time. But we have a situation where we have fellas getting married, fellas going on honeymoon, fellas who need a break. That all has to come into it. We would love to be playing the semi-final next week because we’re feeling good, we’re winning games. And I’d say everyone would be the same, whoever wins Leinster, Ulster whatever. It’s hard because you want to let them taper down now but you want to hit the right note in eleven weeks time or whatever it is. It’s very hard.

“A lot of the fellas who have been sitting down and not getting games will all play in the next couple of weeks. They need to play and the deserve to play and we need to see what they have in the tank.”

Sunday’s SFL final sees Crokes face O’Rahillys, the only team to beat them in all competitions this year, that in the SFC. Crokes topped Division 1 with 21 points from 22, 6 clear of O’Rahillys in second.

Verdict: Dr Crokes