Adrigole dreaming of a perfect end to an unforgettable year
The small fishing village is populated by 450 people, so winning their first Cork county Junior A football title was a mammoth achievement.
With a team scattered around county and country, coach John Crowley still managed to coax the best out of a small squad that has caught the eye not only in landing the county title, but in their style of football.
In that respect, they certainly won’t look out of place in next year’s intermediate football championship.
It’s fitting that Adrigole contest the intermediate grade in 2007, playing for a trophy named after one their own – the late John ‘Lock’ O’Sullivan who died tragically in Colaiste an Phiarsaigh, Glanmire in the winter of 2002.
John was a star forward, the pulse of the team in days when Adrigole flirted with county success, but a new batch of youngsters finally carried out his dream of winning a county junior title.
Next year that new generation aim to bring the John ‘Lock’ O’Sullivan trophy home.
But before next year’s Cork IFC campaign commences, their focus is firmly on today’s Munster Junior club final against Duagh in Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney. In a county where the provincial and All-Ireland championships are taken really seriously, Adrigole weren’t about to deviate from that trend. Three days after lifting the Cork junior title, they made a conscious decision to win the Munster crown.
“We met on the Wednesday night after the county,” says Crowley. “We were after a couple of hard days celebration as you can imagine, but we sat down and made a decision that if we were going to have a go at it that we wouldn’t be going at it half-heartedly, and that we’d keep the drink-bans in place.
Last Sunday Adrigole annihilated Tipperary representatives, Portroe, in the semi-final (1-11 to 1-1). It was a journey into the unknown, admits Crowley, but inspired by brothers Brendan and Kevin Jer O’Sullivan, the Beara representatives romped home. However, Crowley, one of the youngest managers in the game at just 33, is wise enough to know that Cork-Kerry finals take on a life of their own.
“Football in Kerry is very strong. The county are contesting the junior and intermediate finals and won the senior title. So we’re under no illusions that we’re going to have to play above ourselves if we are to pull this one off.
“We might be close to the Kerry border down here, so there is a fair rivalry between Cork and Kerry teams, and it’s going to be the same in Killarney. We spoke about it the other night after training — it’s a Cork v Kerry final and probably the two best football teams in Munster.
“The lads are really looking forward to playing in Fitzgerald Stadium – we’ve played in Pairc Ui Rinn a few times and there’s no great difference — it’s just down in the Kerry back yard. It’s their main pitch in Kerry and it would be great to go down there before Christmas and rob a Munster title off them down there!”
Duagh, says Crowley, resemble Adrigole in many ways most notably in parish size and their unquenchable passion for football.
He knows what he’ll expect from a north Kerry side — “tough, hard football” — but his side are playing with real verve and confidence.
Despite his modest nature, Crowley has managed to extract the best out of a small but close-knit group. “I’m delighted with the players but I’ve always maintained that winning is a habit. If you can get that habit and win games that you shouldn’t win, you get a rub of the green that you won’t get if you’re struggling. We are on a roll now, and we’d like to keep it going into the New Year and into next season.
And the reasons for your success this year? “I suppose after being beaten in a couple of finals we still managed to maintain the hunger. We sat down on New Year’s Day last year and said that we’d give it one last lash, and we managed to coax some of the older players to stay on for another year.
“There was a great sense of relief when we won the county because it had been a burden down through the years when we failed to win it. Some great teams tried but just on the day our luck didn’t go our way, different things happened but that’s sport. We kept at it and kept plugging away and eventually we’ve won it and hopefully the club can go on from here.
“Brendan Jer and John O’Shea are regarded as the older members of the team, but there are six or seven of the Beara U21s on the side. While it is a young team we are still caught for numbers on the panel overall – so everyone is important to us.
“I’m just delighted to be involved with the lads. We seem to get on well together and there seems to be a real family atmosphere in the whole set up.
‘‘They respect me and I respect them and I think that’s the way it should be,” Crowley concluded.
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