O’Keeffe resets goals
It was only two short years since the UCC manager had seen the students hammered in their first-round tie, Carbery sending them packing on a sun-kissed evening in Bandon by a whopping 25 points. This year revolved around low-key goals such as restoring respectability.
“We took an unbelievably bad beating against Carbery that night,” recalled O’Keeffe.
“I was involved then and it was just a disaster. What we were hoping to do with the college team this year was just restore some pride.
“It has been the work that’s been put in at Sigerson and Fresher level since then that has turned that around. There’s a good buzz to UCC football now and people see it as something that’s worth getting involved in.”
They surpassed their pre-season target and now stand on the cusp of claiming the Andy Scannell Cup next Sunday for the first time since 1999. But that does not mean O’Keeffe is expecting a ringing endorsement from neutrals if they overcome Castlehaven in the Páirc Uí Chaoimh clash.
“We’re not going to win a popularity contest and we know that. Realistically we’re probably less popular than the CIT hurling team that were in the county final a couple weeks ago.
But that’s the way college football is. Once the lads put on a college jersey at any level, they take it seriously. And if they didn’t do that this year, we wouldn’t be in a county senior final now.
“Maybe our organisation hasn’t been great this year but that’s always the case because the lads’ clubs come first.
“Like our preparations for the St Nick’s game in the fourth round was a nightmare. On the night we had 17 players and we were haunted to get over Nick’s. But that game showed the pride lads have in the college because a lot of them played after having had club games earlier that day.”
Any hopes UCC had that their preparations would improve in the wake of their semi-final success over Avondhu were firmly quashed by the club commitments their players faced.
That point is reinforced by the fact that their key Dr Crokes duo Johnny Buckley and Daithí Casey will be battling in the heat of a Kerry county semi-final on Saturday rather than taking it easy before Sunday’s showdown.
“We still haven’t had a full squad out since the semi-final over Avondhu due to the logistics of fellas being involved with their clubs. It’s very frustrating that you can’t have that before a county final. But you have to give priority to the clubs.
“I’ll be having a fairly sleepless night before the final. It’s a definite worry with Johnny and Daithí. The last thing you want is for the lads to be picking up an injury. We can’t afford to lose quality players like them.”
O’Keeffe does not need to be told about the capabilities of their opponents Castlehaven on county final day.
“As a player he had first-hand experience of being felled by the west Cork club with the 1989 final with St Finbarr’s generating unhappy memories. As a UCC manager in recent seasons he has worked closely with a couple of Castlehaven’s stars during Sigerson Cup campaigns.
“They’ve a couple spies in the camp,” laughed O’Keeffe.
“Dave Limrick and Mark Collins have been super players for the college. They’ll be well aware of how we operate.
“I’ve seen Haven in finals and lost to them in finals so I know how they’ll play. If we don’t step up and match them, they’ll beat us.”
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