Ballymun will be tough to crack, warns Looney

Every day brings a different challenge.

Dr Crokes face Ballymun Kickhams this weekend in the All-Ireland club semi-final, but it wasn’t so long ago they were lucky to get out of west Clare alive in the Munster club championship.

Shane Myers hasn’t forgotten, though.

“The game up in Quilty (against Kilmurry-Ibrickane) was very difficult because it was only six days after the county final.

“They were as good as it gets — a fantastic team, and we were lucky to get out of there. We had enough of a lead built up that they couldn’t catch us in the second half, but it still came down, more or less, to the last ball that landed in the middle of the field.

“We won that one but if they had won it and come downfield for a point, extra time would have been fierce tough — we’d played the county final six days earlier, they’d had two weeks off and our legs were pretty dead, with a heavy enough field. We were just glad to get out of it.”

Other games have popped up for the Crokes players since; some of them swapped their black and amber club tops for Kerry shirts in the McGrath Cup.

“From a player’s point of view I think the fact that you had seven weeks from January 1 to the Ballymun game, meant that the management felt that it was a long time without any competitive action, so they felt the Crokes players would benefit from the games with Kerry,” says Brian Looney.

“Then the way I was looking at it was that I got four or five quality sessions under my belt at the highest level which I hope would improve my fitness in this early part of the year so that when I do return to my club, that I will be able to bring something extra again.

“Playing with Kerry gave me an edge in fitness and playing games is what brings you on, so it was also good to be able to put in an appearance for the green and gold and which may or may not lead to anything later on. But playing games six or seven weeks before the Ballymun game was not a problem.

“It was no big deal, two weeks training and a couple of matches was the agreement and a chance to wear the green and gold and play for Kerry and I think any fellow in this county only loves to do so.”

This weekend it’s Ballymun.

“We’re looking forward now to the game because we have the hard work done since Christmas,” says Looney.

“We have put in the miles on the pitch and we are looking forward now to playing on the big occasion.

“Ballymun will be tough nuts to crack, because any team that comes out of Dublin will be strong and then to come out of Leinster, they are bound to be an extremely strong outfit. We have seen footage of them on TG4 and they appear an extremely talented team with some fantastic players.”

His clubmate Myers agrees: “A lot of teams seem to be basing their approach around the Dublin style of play, so fitness is very important, they’re very fit and they keep it very tight at the back — I think they may have conceded only one goal in the championship.

“Because they have marquee forwards, they probably reckon if they keep it tight at the back they have a chance in any game, and they’ve proved that.”

“It’s going to be an epic battle,” says Looney. “It’s going to be extremely tough, and we are hoping the work we put in before and since Christmas will be enough to get us over the line.”