No old pals act for Crokes pair

CONFLICTS of interest?

Not really. Johnny Buckley and Daithí Casey of Dr Crokes will face their UCC mates in the Munster Club SFC final this year — having won a Cork SFC medal with them a few weeks ago.

Buckley, a fourth-year Commerce student, laughs when you ask about the prospect of facing his pals in a provincial decider.

“I always thought they’d get over Moyle Rovers, that wouldn’t have been a huge surprise.

“It’s a strange one — I got back to Cork after our win on Sunday night and met up with them all, we had great banter and it’ll be like that for the next couple of weeks, but after the game it’ll be the same again.”

It better be: Buckley shares a house in Cork with UCC players Peter Crowley and Stephen O’Brien, so there’s no getting away from it.

Still, he and Casey have been balancing the two all year.

“It was busy enough, once the intercounty scene finished it got hectic enough, playing in bothchampionships, but it worked out well.

“There were no clashes apart from one weekend when we had to play Saturday (with Crokes) and Sunday (with UCC), but at least the games weren’t on the same day.”

Harry O’Neill, the Croke’s manager, compared UCC to a divisional team, which improves the longer it’s on the road.

“Definitely,” says Buckley. “You look at a club team and you’d say ‘they’re playing together the whole year’, but with UCC you’re talking about players who’ve been together since last October or November, over 12 months.

“They had a couple of months off during the summer, but they’re very close, best friends, so as a team they’re a very united bunch, certainly.”

So when his Crokes teammates pick Buckley’s brain about their UCC opponents, what’ll happen?

“That’s the big one. The lads will obviously be looking for a bit of information on the lads from UCC that they’ll be marking.

“It’s a tough one but my focus is all on Croke’s and doing well with them - the UCC lads know that and there’s no problem with them on that score.”

Crokes aren’t lacking in spirit themselves with that gritty win over Kilmurry-Ibrickane last Sunday - “Games like that will only help a team, when you come through games late on itrises everyone,” says Buckley - but one important question still remains.

Will Buckley travel to the Munster club final with UCC or Dr Crokes?

“We’ll have to see where the fixture is, that’s another part of it! We’ll sort that out when the time comes.”