Kerry earn the right to rub shoulders with hurling giants

Kerry 1-20 Derry 0-12: They perhaps left their best hurling behind them in Newbridge a week earlier but when you’ve also left two Christy Ring Cup finals behind you, winning is all that matters.

Mon, 08 Jun, 2015 - 01:00

Paul Keane, Croke Park

So it was that Kerry finally reached the promised land of tier two success — and the considerable reward of Liam MacCarthy Cup hurling next year — without ever truly extending themselves.

In truth, the real final for Kerry came against Kildare when they opened up with some fantastic hurling and soared to a 36-point win, allowing all their frustrations from last year’s final defeat to come flooding out.

On Saturday, it was a more measured performance as they took some time to find their way around Derry’s buttressed defence before eventually picking the lock.

Last year’s Kildare loss was Kerry’s second consecutive final defeat and as manager Eamonn Kelly alluded to before the Derry game, a redoubling of efforts was required.

Nobody put in more than the Tipperary man himself whose creation of a crack management team including hurling icons like Brendan Cummins and Conor Gleeson made it all possible.

And what an incredible bounty they have secured in the space of just a few weeks.

Back in April, they beat a punishing system to secure Allianz league promotion and a place in next season’s top flight.

As a result of Saturday’s Croke Park win — and a favourable rule change at February’s Annual Congress — they now also have qualified for MacCarthy Cup hurling as Ring Cup winners.

Nobody can claim they don’t deserve it or, more importantly, that they will be out of their depth. In the brief moments of inspiration that illuminated the Ring decider, players like Shane Nolan, Michael O’Leary and Paddy Kelly conjured some fantastic hurling.

Kelly’s back to back points around the hour mark energised the Kingdom to finally break free after a tit-for-tat encounter and put real daylight between the teams. An All-Ireland medallist as a Clare panellist in 2013, Kelly has now added a Christy Ring Cup medal to his haul.

Where Kerry go from here will make for intriguing viewing. There is no reason they can’t thrive in the Leinster qualifier series and even qualify for a provincial quarter-final in 2016.

“Next year?” gasped Kelly. “I’m only looking forward to celebrating this and the next few days. Where we go from here, who knows. These days are days you dream of and you have to savour them.

“This is huge. I just can’t describe how important it is for us to have won this. It was our third year coming to Croke Park. The hurt, like, I’ll never forget the pitch last year.

“Great credit is due to Kildare, they were the better team on the day and they deserved that result. But we couldn’t look at another team going up the steps of the Hogan Stand instead of us. We had great performances in the league and we’d moved on and up a level but this was really what we set out to do since last October. It was all about this so to win it is a huge relief.

“There’s an awful lot of work gone in around this. At the same time, it still won’t be enough to compete in Division 1 of the league or in the Liam MacCarthy next year. So we have to go up a notch again. That’s what the summer months are for now, to plan all of that.”

Kelly sensed a big year was on the horizon for Kerry but it wasn’t always plain sailing. Back in February, they opened their Division 2A league campaign with a draw at home to Derry. Afterwards, a reporter informed Kelly that a relegation battle may loom.

“That kind of turned our year,” recalled the Kildangan man. “We’d been missing the Ardfert players, they were in the club football championship. We have a very small pick but what we do have a is very select pick. When the lads came back, the whole thing lifted.”

First time finalists Derry deployed a sweeper in the hope of containing a Kerry side that racked up 6-27 the previous weekend. It worked, to a degree. Mikey Boyle was held scoreless and substituted after scoring 4-1 against Kildare. But Derry lacked any cutting edge at the other end and shot just three points in total from open play. Kerry led 1-10 to 0-8 at half-time thanks largely to Nolan’s 30th minute goal, a fine solo effort down the left.

The third quarter was tedious. Neither side scored until the 46th minute and the first score from play in the second-half didn’t arrive until the 58th minute. That was one of three Keith Carmody points and Kelly’s brace of scores soon after seemed to release a valve for Kerry. Fittingly, Nolan would close out the scoring with three converted frees, taking his tally to an impressive 1-8 for the day.

“Kerry lost a final last year and they came back and won it — I would absolutely think we can come back next year and win the Christy Ring,” said Derry manager Tom McLean. “We have got the taste for it now.”