Bermingham refuses to look beyond Parnell Park

How focused is Kieran Bermingham, Na Piarsaigh team captain, as his side prepares for Saturday’s clash with Antrim and Ulster champions Loughgiel Shamrocks in the All-Ireland Club SHC semi-final?

Pressed on what it would mean to him and his side if they can get past Loughgiel and play in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day, this was his reaction: “I don’t know, I haven’t thought that far ahead. Our aim is to come out of Parnell Park at 4pm on February 11 with another game to play. That’s it.”

The past already forgotten, the future and its possibilities not even considered — Bermingham’s focus is on one game. Loughgiel, county champions for the second year in a row, All-Ireland champions of 1983 and a team ridiculously under-rated by people who should know better.

Not under-rated by Bermingham, however.

“We know they’re a very experienced team. People should be asking, ‘how can Na Piarsaigh prepare for an All-Ireland semi-final’? We don’t know how to gauge it as we’ve never been there.

“We can only look at the experience of other teams and see how they’ve done it. Loughgiel won an All-Ireland club before, I’m sure they believe they can win this title.

“They’re in this semi-final on merit, are a very experienced team and they meanbusiness. They’re going to take beating.”

Loughgiel do indeed hold many of the aces going into this game, not least in terms of where they’ve come from. Antrim club teams have a good record in All-Ireland semi-finals. Dunloy reached four All-Ireland finals in a 10-year period from 1995, and Loughgiel gave O’Loughlin Gaels a hell of a game last year but theconcession of three soft goals cost them dearly.

Na Piarsaigh? Though they’ve enjoyed a lot of underage success, they have also have come a long way in a very short time at this level. First-time Limerick senior champions, quickly followed by a Munster title — even for Bermingham himself all that has come as something of a surprise.

“If someone had said at the start of last year that we’d be here a year later with all this hype, going into an All-Ireland semi-final — honestly, you’d have said they were liars. There weren’t too many of ye guys [journalists] here in 2009 when we were being hammered, when we lost four county finals in one week. But we knew in our heart and soul we were doing things right and this year it has paid off.

“We want to make everything work, we want to tick every box, we want to make sure we prepare 100%, and it’s in the lap of the gods after that.

“We’re really looking forward to it now, it’s only around the corner. We’ll be trying as hard as we can to keep this thing going.”