Sheehan enjoying second coming

James Sheehan walked away in the autumn of 2009, a few months after Mid Kerry’s county title defence was ended in the last eight.

The hunger of the previous campaign was sorely lacking, the desire which had driven their title charge was no longer evident. It was time for a parting of ways.

But after four years guiding the fortunes of East Kerry, Sheehan is back in the Mid Kerry cockpit and preparing the side for Sunday’s showpiece against Austin Stacks.

“Sometimes I ask myself why did I return?” laughs Sheehan.

“Football is in my blood and I like challenges. I can’t put it any simpler than that.

“I thought I might have won a county championship with East Kerry. I came very near it. We were unlucky in that we met Dr Crokes twice, one year after another. In 2011 we came a cropper at the semi-final stage. I stayed on with Mid Kerry in 2009 and was disappointed with our defence of the title. There was a 17-week gap between two of the rounds. We got a bye in round two and then went in cold. Next thing we knew we were out.

“The old saying is that you never say never. When this challenge presented itself it was new and enticed me so I took it on. There is a lot of lads that weren’t there in 2009. I didn’t know half of them, I had to ask their names.”

Of significant benefit to Sheehan was that the core group of players who had driven their title assault in 2008 — the likes of Donnchadh Walsh, Darran O’Sullivan, Séan O’Sullivan and Fergal Griffin — were still key men.

“I’d be very honest with those lads and they’d be honest with me. I trust them and they trust me. That is translated onto the younger fellas. When I came back earlier this year the younger lads were probably looking at me and saying ‘is this lad half mad?’ Eventually they warmed to me.

“This is a special group. I see every bit of the belief the 2008 group had in this group. The belief that was evident when we went looking for that goal three minutes into injury-time in the county final six years ago is still there. There is also a chemistry here that I haven’t seen since 2008. They knock lumps out of each other when playing in the Mid Kerry championship and rightly so. When they get into training then they are all chat. That’s encouraging.”

Speaking after their first-round win over St Kieran’s in early June, the team’s first championship win since the county semi-final of 2011, Sheehan was a relieved man.

“It was like a monkey off the back for the players. There have been lots of long breaks in this year’s championship which has benefited us because we have been able to meet up more times than we would have expected. We needed every session, every challenge because we didn’t start back until mid-April.

“We weren’t tested in the semi-final against Shannon Rangers, but then again neither were Stacks in their semi. Stacks have the advantage of the county league where they are top of Division 1.”

Sheehan knows the destination of the Bishop Moynihan Cup hinges largely on the performance of Kieran Donaghy or to what level Mid Kerry can curtail the influence of the 6’5 full-forward.

“You have to have an A and B plan when facing Donaghy. I thought Dingle were a bit naive when putting out a young fella on his own to mark Donaghy. He was isolated and had no help. We won’t be doing that. We’ll be ready.”