Blessed by a ‘special bunch’

The hands raised in interest were few. When Eamonn Fitzmaurice handed back the Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne bainisteoir’s bib last May, there was no flood of CVs lodged in the staff room to replace the Kerry boss.

Sure, the school was still basking in the glow of a first Hogan Cup win and less than a month into the current academic year, three students of the Dingle nursery would play a key role in Kerry’s first All-Ireland minor final win in 20-years. Still, not many takers. The problem being that, irrespective of who stepped into the void, unless a fourth successive Corn Uí Mhuirí crown and back-to-back Hogan Cup titles were delivered, the year would be deemed a failure.

Consider then no school had completed the four-in-a-row in Munster since the famed Tralee CBS side of the early 30s, while only six schools in the 61-year history of the Hogan Cup had defended their All-Ireland football crown. The reservations of the Dingle teaching staff were understandable.