The lesser lights on Lewis Road

Colm Cooper may hog the headlines but at the Dr Crokes club in Killarney, there is as much pride in the contributions of the club’s other green and gold heroes

HARRY O’NEILL is using a freezing afternoon in Mallow last January to make his point. The Dr Crokes manager saw his side dangle on the precipice at half time in the Munster senior club final, trailing by 13 points to a Nemo Rangers team that produced an awesome display of football. A shellacking loomed but for the power of Eoin Brosnan and the poise of Kieran O’Leary, who shot 1-5. Time ran out at the death on Killarney’s finest but O’Neill gulped hard when he reflected on what it could have been.

“Everyone saw when our backs were to the wall that Eoin was the guy who dug us out of the hole when he went to midfield. He tore into the game. He’s like a good wine, he gets better with age. And it was Kieran who got the crucial scores up front. The two of them were brilliant and brought us back into it.”