Monaleen’s Mike ready to battle old friends

THE penny only dropped for Mike Crowley a couple of days after last month’s Limerick county senior final.

In the aftermath of the final whistle on that wintry afternoon in Newcastlewest, Crowley was engulfed by a swirl of celebrations. Monaleen had ended a five-year hiatus from the victory podium and being captain enhanced this occasion for Crowley. When calm was restored, he began to look ahead to the challenges beyond the local borders and was informed that the Kerry champions were the next obstacle for Monaleen. That meant a collision with Crowley’s old club in Killarney was on the cards.

“It was fairly strange when I found out we were playing Dr Crokes. I’d have mainly played soccer when I was underage in Limerick, but after moving school from Ard Scoil Rís to St Brendan’s when I was in fifth year, I joined Dr Crokes. My parents are from Barraduff and Rathmore, so I’ve plenty family in Kerry and I moved to Killarney as a boarder. Dr Crokes really was where my football career began and I started to focus on it. I was involved in 2000 when we won the Kerry county title, we won a few county leagues, O’Donoghue Cups and a Munster senior league when I was there as well. I played for the best part of eight years before I then got a job as a medical sales executive in 2005. That brought me back to Limerick and I joined Monaleen then.”

Tomorrow afternoon will be an odd experience for him, walking under the tunnel that leads to the Lewis Road complex and filing into the away dressing room. There is a pile of familiar faces in the current Dr Crokes setup.

“It’ll be a surreal experience. I’ve nothing but fond memories of playing with the Crokes. They’re a fantastic club with great tradition and people involved. Harry O’Neill the manager at the moment would have trained me before. Then there’s the spine of the team I’ve have played with. Kieran Cremin in goal, out to Luke Quinn, to Ambrose at midfield, Eoin Brosnan, Kieran O’Leary and obviously Colm Cooper. I’d keep in good contact with a lot of the team.

“Going up against lads you played with for so long will make it a bit emotional. Especially going to Lewis Road to play. But I would be looking forward to the game. I’ll see a lot of old faces and after the game, hopefully have a bit of craic and a chat.”

Crowley is determined not to be sidetracked by the occasion though. Monaleen’s appearances in the provincial title race have been rare and this is one to savour. The Munster club football scene has become more democratic in recent seasons and is no longer the preserve of aristocrats from Cork and Kerry. Crowley is keen to sample an extended run deep into December.

“We’ve seen what the likes of Drom-Broadford and Kilmurry-Ibrickane have achieved recently, and we want some of that. We know we’re going down to the heart of Kerry football. What we’re hoping for is to put in a good performance and that will be good enough to put it up to the Crokes. Winning Limerick was a key thing for us as it was five years since we’d even reached a final. We felt we were good enough to get back to final but it didn’t work out, so we knew we had to take the opportunity this year.

“Our form wasn’t great this year in the group stages, but the quarter-final against Fr Casey’s kickstarted things for us and then to defeat Drom-Broadford who were going for the three-in-a-row gave us confidence. Winning the county final was a great feeling but the celebrations are over now. We were back to training the Wednesday after and focused for the Munster club.”