Kieran Donaghy expecting ‘a dogfight’
If it’s open, free-flowing football you’re looking for this weekend, Kieran Donaghy recommends taking in tomorrow’s club semi-final encounter involving Corofin and St Vincent’s.
There’ll be no such showcase at O’Moore Park on Sunday, with Donaghy predicting a dogfight between two sides with nothing to lose.
In truth, though, he’s not overly bothered by the route taken. The destination is his sole concern. Their 3-5 to 2-4 Munster final victory over The Nire last November certainly wasn’t attractive fare. Not that it troubled Austin Stacks, mind you. The Kerry champions deal solely in the currency of producing results.
“It’s an unbelievable opportunity to be involved with all your friends in an All-Ireland semi-final, and whatever about thinking about a Munster championship after a county final, this definitely wasn’t on the radar,” said Donaghy.
“We have nothing to lose. We are playing against another team that I don’t think have anything to lose either which is going to make for a great game. I think they have a toughness in them and we have a bit of toughness in us.
“I think it’s going to be an edgy game and whoever wants to fight the hardest for it will come out on top.
“There is a load of football in the other semi-final, Corofin and St Vincent’s are two very classy teams. I think our semi-final may be more of a dogfight, but we don’t mind whatever way it comes once we can find a way to get over the line and get to the next stage. That’s the way we’ve approached it all year.”
Dr Crokes failed on three successive occasions — 2011 to 2013 — to navigate the semi-final hurdle of a competition dubbed by sponsors AIB as ‘the toughest’.
Donaghy says bettering their Kerry rivals in reaching the St Patrick’s Day decider is not a priority.
“It’s not in the back of my head, honestly. If we get over the next game, the final will be all I’ll think about probably for a month.
“Right now, it’s about trying to win a semi-final to give yourself an opportunity to think like that. If you are thinking like that now (about a final), I think you are in trouble as a player.
“It’s something Stephen Stack has emphasised and we’ve been good at that all year, taking the next game as it comes, and I know it’s a cliché. If we’d looked past Dingle in the county semi-final, we’d have been beaten hands down, but we didn’t care about the other game, we just concentrated on the match in front of us. It was really just about getting to a final and giving yourself that chance to win it. It was the same with Munster and it really will be the same the next day.”
He added: “These boys are tough boys to come out of Ulster, to come out of crowds like Crossmaglen and Omagh, and these kind of teams and Clontibret, and to come out of that environment. It will be a barnburner, as my basketball coach used to say. It will be one of those games you look forward to if you are up for the fight, and if you’re not you won’t look forward to. It’ll be a great game for us. If we find a way to get over the line then I’ll obsess about the final.”
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