Spa aiming to climb last step

IT’S early in the season, but tomorrow afternoon sees Croke Park house a Kerry-Tyrone All-Ireland football final battle. The best intermediate outfits from both counties go head to head and, in Kerry club Spa, there is a feverish sense of anticipation ahead of the game against Cookstown’s Fr Rocks.

“There is a really great atmosphere here,” says Spa manager Sean Moynihan. “We’ve been waiting for this game with a huge air of expectation. It’s surreal to think it’s here now. We’ve a huge crowd going up to Dublin and we’ve a function organised for the Burlington Hotel on Sunday night. The whole committee from the club have put in a great effort and we’ve 400 tickets sold for that event. It should be a fantastic occasion.”

The pageantry surrounding the game is to be savoured, but Moynihan is adamant their player focus will be on what happens after throw-in at 3.45pm tomorrow afternoon.

“We said all year it’ll take seven steps to get to the Hogan Stand in Croke Park. We’ve done six and there’s one more to do. We’re trying to focus on the game and stick to our game plan. We’re playing in the biggest stadium in Ireland and one of the most beautiful in Europe. But we don’t want to lose the run of ourselves. The concentration is on playing football.”

Cookstown looked impressive in their semi-final success over Galway champions Leitir Mhór and have star names amongst their ranks. Ryan Pickering won an All-Ireland MFC medal with Tyrone in 2008; Raymond Mulgrew has been a permanent fixture on the Tyrone senior panel over the past few seasons, while Owen Mulligan’s talents are well-documented.

“They have some big names alright,” agrees Moynihan. “Their whole team is very strong and they have a couple of standout players. Someone like Owen Mulligan will be a big boost for them with his experience and that’s something we don’t have. He’ll be important to their side in ensuring the occasion doesn’t get the better of them. But we have lads who have played in Croke Park before, the likes of Michael O’Donoghue and Cian Tobin. One of our selectors Mike McAuliffe played there a lot as well. So we won’t be found wanting in that department.”

The manner of Spa’s semi-final success against Maynooth has nourished their hopes of success now.

“We were dead and gone in that game,” recalls Moynihan. “Then, with three minutes left, we banged in a goal. That kind of sums up what we’ve been about all year. We had loads of injuries and it wasn’t looking good for us, but we got the right result. We said beforehand Michael O’Donoghue and Niall O’Mahony would be targeted and they were. But the key was a guy like Conor Gleeson could pop up with 2-1 to win the game. There’s great camaraderie in our team and hopefully we can maintain our run.”