Dromid aiming for Croker date

THEY have watched on enviously over the last few years as South Kerry neighbours St Michael’s-Foilmore, Skellig Rangers and St Mary’s(Caherciveen) sampled the Croke Park stage.

Now Dromid Pearses are 60 minutes away from following in their footsteps. On Sunday they travel to Portlaoise to face Tyrone outfitDerrytresk in the All-Ireland Club JFC final and the experiences of their local rivals has been of assistance to manager Michael Anthony O’Connell.

“James Mike O’Sullivan [St Michael’s-Foilmore], Paul Murphy [Skellig Rangers] and Peter Keane [St Mary’s] have all been there before and have been a great help to me before this game. Everyone in South Kerry is geared into this and wishing us well.”

Dromid Pearses booked their semi-final spot with an All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Newcastle-based outfit Cú Chulainn’s in Birmingham in December. Since then they suffered the disappointment of a South Kerry decider loss to St Mary’s yet the return of key players from abroad has boosted their aspirations for this game.

“We were a little bit down after losing the South Kerry final onChristmas Eve but we were backtraining on New Year’s Eve. Aidan ‘Shine’ O’Sullivan is back from Australia and DJ O’Sullivan is back from Canada which is a big help to us. John Curran is a big injury doubt with a hamstring problem but hopefully he can pull through. The lads have been very committed as we’ve half of our 24-man panel based away from home, with a lot of them in Cork andLimerick. But we train once a week in Dr Crokes grounds in Killarney and everyone makes it back for those sessions.”

O’Connell is wary of the threat posed by their Tyrone opponents but is aware that the squad are determined to seize this opportunity.

“We’ve seen a DVD of the Ulster final and they’re a tough, tenacious team. They’re a typical Ulster team and we got a taste of that against CúChulainn’s as their side was predominantly Tyrone and Derry players. But it’s a marvellous occasion for us. We’ve been very proud of what Jack O’Connor has achieved as manager and Declan O’Sullivan has achieved as a player when with Kerry. Hopefully we can do something as a club now.”

Picture: Declan O' Sullivan