Valentia Young Islanders in deep water - on every side

Football is a passion and Manager Fionán Murphy from the Island takes his roll very seriously as he fires up his players before the match. Picture Alan Landers.

Valentia Young Islanders 2-9 Beale 4-10 

A man in Beara told this writer last year that any club with a view of the Atlantic from its playing field is, by definition, under pressure for numbers.

“He was right,” says Liam Lynch of Valentia Young Islanders. “We’re in the Atlantic. We look west and all we see is water.” 

Looking east from Valentia’s home ground O'Connor Park, before yesterday’s Kerry JFC round 2 game with Beale, and the mountains show why it’d be on any shortlist of picturesque venues. Little wonder Synge was surprised anyone was left in Dublin, London or Paris with the scenery on offer in southwest Kerry.

The Valentia Young Islanders pitch situated on the edge of the picturesque village of Chapeltown on Valentia Island with views to Portmagee and the Skelligs. Picture Alan Landers.

Now the movement is in the opposite direction. The surprise at Valentia’s struggle to make do with dwindling numbers only raises eyebrows among those off the island.

On it, Lynch says they’re squeezed by circumstances at every turn: there’s a deceptive edge even to apparent good news: “With the Covid we have players at training alright because they were confined to home, but that’s temporary. When they can all move with complete freedom again they’ll be gone.

“The J-1 lads are all home, but they won’t be here next summer.

“Dwindling numbers are a problem all the time. The days when three families might supply nearly an entire team are long gone.” 

And not just for Valentia. Most clubs in the region are looking to amalgamate at underage at least.

Tommy O'Neill from Beale making the journey across the county to Valentia Island in style. Picture Alan Landers

“I’m in Chapeltown and we always had plenty of kids for underage. We didn’t have to amalgamate with anyone, but now we combine with Portmagee.

“There were three national schools here once - in Knightstown, Chapeltown and on the western part of the island. They were amalgamated into one school - near the pitch - in 1978, but the number of enrolments has more or less halved since the early nineties.

It’s serious all over south Kerry. You’d wonder if the likes of Mick O’Connell, Mick O’Dwyer, Maurice Fitzgerald, Bryan Sheehan, John Egan - will those players be produced again?

Lynch picks a good example, pointing out that Egan’s club, Sneem, never had to amalgamate in the past, but have now been forced to combine with Derrynane.

Beale player Philip Blake gets some physio before the match from Deirdre Mulvihill as teammates tog out under the stand at Valentia Young Islanders pitch in Chapeltown. Picture Alan Landers.

“Back in the 70s Sneem were lovely to watch - they had a few Egan brothers playing, but most clubs don’t have that now, a few brothers on a team, because families are much smaller.” 

Yesterday’s opponents, Beale, had to overcome challenges of their own to get that far south, but they were geographic rather than demographic. One of their backroom team said they’d left at 9.15 am just to make Valentia for noon - but they still started well.

A penalty from Daragh Buckley helped them to a healthy lead, 1-5 to 0-2, but Andy Quigley hit three points and a penalty for Valentia to close the gap.

Islanders' Andy Quigley makes no mistake with this penalty sending Beale's keeper Sean Dee in the wrong direction. Picture Alan Landers.

Beale goaled twice before half-time, though, from Conor Toomey and Johnny O’Sullivan, to enjoy a 3-8 to 1-7 lead.

Valentia rallied in the third quarter, and Stephen Sheehan’s goal left three points in it, but Beale made it safe with another Buckley penalty (in what was a more sporting game than three penalties might suggest).

Defeat for Valentia, but a game fulfilled. Liam Lynch says that’s what many of the games are about now. Maintaing that continuity. The underlying issues go far beyond team numbers.

“The county board are aware of the issue,” he says, “but, in fairness, they can’t populate the place for us. Rural decline is everywhere, we’re just a microcosm of that.

The Falvey residence with a side line view of the Valentia Young Islanders pitch. Picture Alan Landers.

“South Kerry is on the periphery as it is, and we’re on the periphery of south Kerry.

“Maybe after the Covid lockdown settles fellas working in cities and towns might think, ‘I’ll work from home for a couple of months’ and fall in with us, or other rural clubs, for the summer.

“Something like that would help, but then you need good broadband for that. It’s a vicious circle.” 

In the here and now those who are keeping the show on the road deserve credit, he adds: “The two lads who’ve fallen in to train the team, Fionan Murphy and Seamus ‘Batt’ O’Connor, have kept the thing going. They’re two busy men, too, but they’re doing it on a voluntary basis just to keep the club on the road.” 

Valentia Young Islanders groundskeeper Sean Curran making sure all is in order the Junior Club Championship R2 v Beale on Sunday. Picture Alan Landers.

They’re not alone. Valentia pulled in a couple of teenagers this year but they still rely on the likes of John Shanahan, who’s 42. Don Daly is 49, and Junior Murphy is also in his forties. Up to last year Richard Quigley was in goal. He’s 52.

“There’s credit due to them too for keeping it going,” says Lynch. 

Is there any light on the horizon? There’s a good U12 team on the way, Lynch says. He acknowledges that one underage team isn’t always a sustaining crop, but it’s what they have.

It’s what they’re fulfilling those fixtures for. As he says, “We need to keep the seat warm for them until they come through.” 

They can’t come through fast enough. A lot of other clubs know that feeling.

Young Islanders Andy Quigley breaks from the challenge of Beale's Diarmuid O'Mahony. Picture Alan Landers.

Scorers for Valentia: Andy Quigley (0-3 frees, 1-0 pen)(1-5); S. Sheehan (1-1); P. Curtin, S. Curran, J. Shanahan (0-1 each).

Scorers for Beale: D. Buckley (pens)(2-0), C. Linnane (0-5 frees)(0-6); J. O’Sullivan, C. Toomey (1-0 each); G. O’Gorman (0-2); F. Toomey, E. Daly (0-1 each).

VALENTIA: M. Lynch, S. Lynch, J. Curran, C. O’Donoghue, L. George, Aaron Quigley, D. Lynch, Jim Lynch, P. O’Connor, Joe Lynch, Andy Quigley, D. Corcoran, J. Shanahan, S. Sheehan, P. Curtin.

Subs: S. Curran for J. Lynch (HT); J. Murphy for S. Curran (55).

BEALE: S. Dee, J. Griffin, S. O’Sullivan, J. O’Sullivan, F. Toomey, J. King, K. Walsh O’Boyle, P. Blake, N. Mulvihill, C. Toomey, D. O’Mahony, E. Daly, C. Linnane, G. O’Gorman, D. Buckley.

Subs: P. Collins for Griffin (48); B. O’Neill for O’Gorman (50).

Referee