Kearns relishes underdogs tag against Kerry kingpins
The Premier men are the underdogs, but there is something that perhaps people would need to consider; the manager of the little parish club from deep in the glens is Liam Kearns, a man no stranger to manning the sidelines on big championship days.
His record? Right then, here it is, in his own words: “I started managing football teams with the Garda College. We had never played in colleges football and when I arrived I was told I was taking over the team. In my four years there we won two Trench Cups back-to-back. We then got to a Sigerson Cup semi-final, then the final – they were all ‘firsts’.
“I went to Drom-Broadford then. They had never won anything at underage, they were junior B at the time. We won minor, U21, junior A, intermediate, and when I left them to take over Limerick they were about to dominate the Limerick senior football championship and have since won five senior titles.
“Limerick were way down the ladder when I came in. We won the Munster U21 title, reached an All-Ireland final, contested National League division 1 semi-finals, reached Munster finals, drew with Kerry and all that kind of stuff.
“I was with Lissycasey for a year, 2006, and the year afterwards they won their first Clare title – I left them for the Laois job, and that was the only kind of...” and he pauses, considers — “They had only ever won one Leinster title, so that was another challenge, but we didn’t win.
“From there I went to Aherlow – I don’t take easy challenges, I’m afraid!”
Question though – how did he end up in Aherlow? And how, at a time when the likes of Liam Sheedy walks away from the job of Tipperary senior hurling manager after guiding the team to All-Ireland success, when Cork’s All-Ireland-winning football manager Conor Counihan has to spend weeks considering his position before committing himself again, how does Liam Kearns, a garda, find the time?
“There’s no way I could do it if I didn’t have this job; I’m in charge of training in the Limerick division, nine-to-five, Monday to Friday, and I’ve been doing that for the last 12 years – I couldn’t do it otherwise.”
Which is why Liam could understand Liam Sheedy’s decision.
“No-one could seem to accept that it was simply down to his job, that he couldn’t be an inter-county manager anymore. “People don’t even need a grain of truth to start the rumour, or to spread it. We’ve just had a situation where a man was awarded millions in a libel action – how much would people be entitled to for the rumours that do the rounds in the GAA, if they could find the guy who started them?
“But it’s a strange world, the GAA, isn’t it? I still get a great kick from this, it’s what I’m best at; getting players from teams that haven’t had success to believe in themselves, getting them organised, getting them to play above where they’ve been playing before.
“I don’t know how I’d get on with a team that’s already successful – if I was given the Kerry team in the morning, all the resources they have, and told to get on with it, would my line of bullshit work with them?
“But, once you take the job you’re going to get grief, no matter the team; even in Aherlow — we were beaten by Clonmel in the first championship match last year and by God the abuse was flying then! I told the players, ‘Keep ye’re heads, we’ll get this sorted’, and we reached the county final and should have won it. This year we were beaten by Loughmore in the second round and there was a fair amount of flak flying again! But again we turned it around. No matter where you go, you’re going to get that.”
He’s got some challenge to topple the Crokes.
“Crokes are really rated in Kerry, won the Kerry championship and no-one came within five points of them, not even South Kerry, and they gave Monaleen (Limerick champions) an awful trimming in Killarney.
“You’re talking David and Goliath, a small club from a very small parish taking on one of the giants of football, from the home of football. It’s a huge task, but we have some fine footballers in this team, the likes of Ciarán McDonald and the Grogans, Barry and Seamus. We’ll give it a go.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
