Moloney intent on final flourish

Two years ago, around this time, Dr Crokes full-back Michael Moloney was hopeful of a second All-Ireland campaign, having progressed through Kerry and won the county, and a provincial final against Nemo Rangers stood between them and another tilt of the Holy Grail of club football.

Despite being a qualified civil engineer, Moloney (also known as ‘Smiler’) was unemployed so, along with fellow defender Shane Doolan, they were promised work — provided they played football in London with the Kingdom Club.

So, after weather forced the Munster final to be postponed until January 2011, Moloney played his final match for Crokes in a 1-15 to 1-13 defeat to the Cork side.

“I left for London at the end of January,” explains Moloney. “It was disappointing to lose the final but there was no work here, so it had to be done. I spent a year in London, working and playing football over. I came home to go back to college and when I was in the middle of my course, I got summer work back in Liebherr (in Killarney). So I am back in Killarney, working and its great to be back playing with the Crokes again, retaining the SFC in Kerry and looking forward to the final,” he added.

After being a year away, Moloney, 24, has his own ideas as to why Crokes appear to have a pep in their step this year — though he doesn’t entirely agree that they had it easy in Kerry. “I think the fact that we have new management this year has made a difference because it has brought an element of freshness to the dressing room and new voices.

“I think the lads were hurting from last year too, after training hard, they lost to Crossmaglen after getting a decent start and that was on top of the loss to Nemo the previous year. So there is a burning desire to take it to the next level and reach an All-Ireland final. But we must win on Sunday first and we know that Castlehaven will be tough opponents.”

Another plus for the Crokes has been the influence of coach Donie Buckley.

“Donie was excellent, he is one of the top coaches around, and I found him to be very beneficial, for the defenders in particular,” says Moloney.

“It was good to have Donie on board for a few weeks during the summer and he added a new dimension to our game that I would think, has seen a big improvement in the way we defend, individually and as a team.

“They were small things but important things and while Donie is not on the field playing the games, he did help lift our intensity that little bit extra and it is making a difference.”

Moloney believes the win over Kilmurry/Ibrickane was their best win, considering the conditions, but he believes that Castlehaven will be another battle on Sunday.

“We have Daithí (Casey) and Johnny (Buckley) who know them (Castlehaven) from their time with UCC and we know it will be a huge battle and we will have to be up for it. They are dogged competitors, tenacious, difficult to break down and because it’s a Kerry v Cork game, there will be very little in it.

“No Kerry/Cork clashes are won easy and on Sunday it will be helter-skelter. It’s winter football when defences tend to dominate so we’ll have to be on our toes for the entire hour.”