‘We never thought beyond West Cork. That was the Holy Grail’
Today marks the start of the annual Leap Scarecrow Festival.
In just four years, the week-long celebration around Halloween has grown exponentially, but tonight the focus of the West Cork village will be firmly on events at Páirc Uí Rinn as local side Kilmacabea compete in the county JAFC final.
For the Kilmacs, success has come in a wave. Founded in 1888, it wasn’t until 2015 that a Carbery junior A final was reached. They lost to Bandon on that occasion but came back to claim the divisional title last year and then retained it this time round.
Club chairman Dan Hourihane’s playing career with the club spanned four decades from the 1960s through to “standing in to make up numbers a few times in the 2000s”.
For him, the idea of them playing in a county final was too far off to even consider: “Our big ambition was to win the West Cork final, for us that was the Holy Grail,” he says.
“We never thought beyond that because we never got there until we played Bandon.
“For all of my generation and people that are gone, even getting there was the bar. We always felt that we had teams good enough to do it, but it didn’t work out.”
“We got there in 2015 and that broke the ice big-time for us. We knew we were good enough to get to the final and that Bandon team went on to win the county and then the intermediate the following year.
“The fact that Bandon were gone out of West Cork, for all of the other junior clubs they were the elephant in the room and for ourselves and St Colum’s and Caheragh and St Oliver Plunkett’s and whoever else, with Bandon gone, we were all back on a level playing field.”
In 2016, they lost to eventual Carbery and county champions Gabriel Rangers but the glass ceiling was finally broken as Kilbrittain were overcome last year.
“Trying to win West Cork was like an anvil around our neck,” Hourihane says.
“Going into the final last year, we were under big pressure because we knew we had a chance but we had never won it.
“We did win it though and then we went on in the county and Erin’s Own beat us in the semi-final after a replay, it was one we felt we left behind us.
“Inside in the dressing room in Brinny the day Erin’s Own beat us in the replay, nearly everybody shed a tear because we felt we had left it go. That has been a spur for this year.”
Victory over Delanys last Saturday brought them to the decider, with a surge of emigrants coming back to witness tonight’s historic occasion.
“There are guys from Australia, Canada, America coming back for the match, it’s a great occasion, a great atmosphere and everybody’s getting excited.”
While Dromtarriffe manager James McAuliffe, a native of Rathmore in Kerry and principal in the local Dromagh NS, can’t match Hourihane’s service, he is keenly aware of the history of the Duhallow club.
In 1890, they lost the county senior final to Midleton – who would go on to claim Cork’s first double along with Aghabullogue – but they went all the way three years later. Along with Millstreet, they are the only Duhallow club to have been Cork champions.
“The lads would be hugely aware of the history of sport in the area,” McAuliffe says.
“We’d have done a few projects in the school and you could see what it meant after the semi-final, there was huge emotion in and around the dressing room, guys who had been involved for 50, 60, 70 years.
“We’re well aware that it’s a first county final since 1956 [when they lost to St Michael’s], six decades is a long time so we’re delighted to still be carrying the torch.”
“We’ll be underdogs but we have been in every game. The lads haven’t had fear going into any game and I’m sure it’ll be the same on Saturday.”
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