Competition helps Fermoy crack dual code

Fermoy line out in tomorrow’s Premier intermediate football final against Kiskeam (Páirc Uí Rinn, throw-in 3.45pm), just a fortnight after their last county final, in the premier intermediate hurling. Busy times.

“It’s been hectic,” says club chairman Brendan Keane, “Particularly the last month, but what’s made it different has been the excitement of realising we’re in two county finals, I suppose.

“In reality, though, it’s been hectic all round, particularly given the number of dual players.

“All depending on how the two teams are picked, there are 10 or 11 dual players starting on both teams.”

Do issues arising with, say, using facilities fall in the chairman’s lap?

“Very much so, but what we learned a few years ago, the time we came up from junior hurling in 2009 and had two intermediate teams, is that we had to try to balance it.

“Obviously with two managers, in hurling and football, there’s a healthy rivalry in terms of facilities for training, so what we did was create a sub-committee chaired by myself. We met and agreed a schedule with the two managers but when things change, as they inevitably do, with fixtures and so on, we become an appeals body, basically, for the two managers.

“We try to decide those issues properly and in fairness to the two managers, Denis Ring (hurling) and Noel Crowley (football), they’ve accepted our decisions and it’s worked out pretty well.

“At times we get criticised that we’re doing too much for the hurlers, other times for the footballers — when you’re being criticised on both sides then you know you’re doing the right thing.”

Would that be an approach worth replicating in other dual clubs?

“Absolutely, though in my experience looking around the place there are two kinds of clubs — one which is trying to be a genuine contender in both, and others in which one code dominates.

“In the latter, there’s a couple of nights’ training the week of the ‘second’ code championship games, but in the other, and in our case, it’s split 50-50.

“Looking at the number of league games in both, and if you get a good run in the championship, then you have to put a team on the field in hurling and football for up to 30 weeks in the year. A big panel is very helpful, and that’s something we’ve built up in the club over the last few years through work at underage level.”

Keane doesn’t agree with the traditional view that Fermoy have underachieved.

He says: “In our time in school we’d have been taught that Fermoy was one of the principal towns in Cork during geography, but Carrigaline, Mallow, Glanmire, Ballincollig — those are all up around the 20,000 population mark, while we’re about 5,000-6,000. We’re still bracketed with them, though.

“We were senior football up to 1963-64 or so, and we’ve had green shoots every now and then since but now we have a very committed, hard-working group of members.

“Fermoy is a vibrant town in terms of other sports; soccer, rugby and so on are all strong. We compete with each other but we cooperate as well.

“Success breeds success and when we’re going well fellas will opt for Gaelic games. The smaller the club or parish the more you’ll see bunting and flags, but you see it here now. Our team was very young winning the junior and they’ve been there or thereabouts the last few years — in that time the fanbase has grown. We were poorly-supported a few years ago but there are far more people interested now.

“If you’re a teenager now it’s cool to wear the top or jersey around town.”

The hurling game didn’t go their way — Bandon edged them out — but as Keane says, they got back on the horse.

“We were very down the night we lost but we trained on the Tuesday.

“Fair dues to Bandon for doing the (intermediate) double on consecutive Sundays. It’s helped us to have a two-week break between the games, the fortnight has given us a chance to get past the disappointment.

“A one-week gap would have been very hard, so having last weekend off will hopefully help the lads be fresh for tomorrow.”