’Courty up for the challenge
They enjoyed their county final victory two weeks ago all the more as a result.
“We lost the county final last year to a 63rd-minute point which denied us a draw against Stradbally,” says Ballinacourty chairman Tony Mansfield. “Fair play to Stradbally, but this year we won the final by a point — a final played in a mudbath — so we were the lucky ones. The focus of our lads all year and of manager Mattie Kiely and his selectors was to get back to the county final. We were delighted, we’ve been there or thereabouts for a while. In 2008 we drew with The Nire and they won the replay, and deserved to, but we were down five players for the second game.
“In 2009 we lost the semi-final narrowly and lost the final last year by a point. So to win again after a gap of four years, well, there’s been great celebrating since.”
Mansfield hopes the side will give a good account of themselves tomorrow but he’s also realistic about the challenge. “Management will be stressing to the lads that the opportunity to play at this level doesn’t come around that often and to make the most of it. But if you go to the bookies then you’ll see Dr Crokes are odds on and we’re 5/1. That about sums it up.”
Ah yes, Dr Crokes. The Kerry champions have a star-studded outfit, and Mansfield acknowledges their quality.
“They’re an exceptional team – it’s a rarity in Kerry in modern times for a club team to put two titles back to back, and this year was their fifth final since 2005. They’ve good players all over the team – Luke Quinn, Eoin Brosnan and John Payne are very good in the back line while Ambrose O’Donovan – a famous name — and John Buckley are a good midfield partnership. Up front Colm Cooper and Kieran O’Leary are very well known but Daithi Casey and Brian Looney are two very good forwards as well. There’s a lot of interest down here in seeing Colm Cooper in particular, he’s a huge attraction. They’re a top class team and they’ve made a good recovery after that loss to Nemo last year, so their sights will be on the Munster title.”
Ballinacourty know plenty about the big days in the club calendar themselves, mind.
“The lads are very experienced,” says Mansfield. “They’ve played in four county finals in football and one in hurling, so they’ve been around the block.
“We played Nemo in the Munster club final a few years ago (2007) and Dr Crokes will be well aware of that – we played that game in Fitzgerald Stadium – and we gave it a go but we came up short. Nemo were the better team on the day but we were delighted with the lads’ performance on the day.”
They’re also battling the effects of the recession: “Like all clubs we have lads working away who are making a huge effort to make it back for training and matches. We have one lad flying back from England, while there are four players based in Dublin. It’s amazing commitment but that’s just the way the situation is for many clubs, and given that background it was a major achievement to win the county title. I suppose a player doesn’t get that many chances to play in a county final so they want to do as well as possible when the chance does come.”
Finally, Fraher Field is as close to home as Ballinacourty could possibly play without actually being in their club grounds. Will that be a help? “Someone asked me about the venue,” says Mansfield. “But that doesn’t make any difference, apart from saving us a journey down to Killarney. The pitch was destroyed last week but it has recovered, in fairness, since last weekend.”
