Young: Clubs in crisis over emigration

Killian Young fears the emigration crisis is going to get worse for South Kerry clubs despite the best efforts of players to make up teams.

His own Renard club have been in difficulty of late, although players have been commuting from Dublin at weekends to ensure they can field a side.

However, it appears they are fighting against the tide as the outlook is bleak for the region. As reported earlier in the year, clubs such as Valentia are close to the wall in terms of player availability at senior level.

At underage, Waterville and Dromid Pearses have linked up. Skellig Rangers have done the same with Valentia, as have Sneem with Derrynane.

Maurice Fitzgerald’s St Mary’s in Cahirciveen and Young’s Renard have the same relationship and their ties could be further strengthened in the future.

Young lives in Tralee and Kerry commitments take him away from the club a lot, but he has an acute appreciation of the difficulties in South Kerry.

He recounts: “Last year I remember getting a phone call in August from a fella who had gone down to training with five fellas and he rang me saying he was quitting the club and picking up a new sport because there was absolutely no enjoyment in it.

“You wouldn’t actually blame him. I’ve actually no defence for the whole set-up, really, because he was saying what was the whole point and where was the enjoyment when you were training down the field with only five other fellas in it.

“That’s all there was available and it’s entirely frustrating and you’re getting beaten every weekend. You feel for those fellas that are doing that and in fairness to them you have to respect them because it’s extremely tough, especially in South Kerry.

“There’s no work basically down there and it’s a tough, lean time and I just don’t know where the light is coming from.”

Amalgamation wouldn’t be a strange phenomenon to Renard. They joined forces with St Michael’s/Foilmore during the 1960s and ’70s.

But it’s a last resort in Young’s opinion. Identity is a major thing for proud, if humble, clubs like Renard.

“Unless it has to where you can’t fill a team, fair enough, but it’s not something you want to see happening.

“In fairness, this year I’ve seen improvement where teams have been making more of an effort. People are coming back to help the clubs which is great to see.

“Even within Renard, we’ve four fellas coming down from Dublin and making the extra drive to fill the team. That’s the effort lads are putting in, training with clubs in Dublin and coming down to play games at the weekend.”

Young’s mind this week is centred on the visit of Tipperary to Killarney on Sunday. The prospect of a second game in six days against Waterford should Kerry win is not on his radar, he maintains.

“Somebody asked me that and it caught me on the hop. I actually forgot it was six days after. We’re just totally focused on Tipperary, to be honest.

“The Tipp game is something we can’t afford to overlook. When you look at Manchester City and Wigan in the FA Cup final, it just shows when your head is not right on the day anything can happen.”

The possibility of two games in six days and then a four-week gap to a Munster final is the path Kerry hope to follow, but it’s a bizarre one.

The go-stop-go nature of the championship, not just at Munster level, irritates Young.

“You can’t just can’t single out Munster. It’s not the standard that frustrates me; what frustrates me are the gaps between the games.

“It would be nice to play more games within the championship structure. The reason we train is to go out and express yourself and that’s why we play GAA — to play games for Kerry.

“Obviously, I’d love to have a structure where we had more games. I think it would be way more enjoyable. It’s slightly frustrating when there are gaps between championship games, but that’s what we’re used to and is going to continue in the meantime.”

When Peter Creedon suggests Tipperary will beat Kerry some day soon, Young is mindful of the threat posed considering their exploits at minor and U21 level.

“Tipp have improved a lot actually at minor and U21 level. It’s going to show at some stage [at senior level]. You just don’t know when it’s going to happen.

“It could happen this summer so you just have to be aware of that. In fairness, John Evans put a great

structure inside in Tipp and speaking to a minor there a couple of weeks ago he was talking about the interest within football in Tipperary.

“It has got much higher and that struck me. There’s a lot more people asking about the game and a lot more people getting involved in the game.”