St Brendan's looking for 'silverware on the table' after reaching back-to-back Kerry SFC semi-finals

“The praise has to land at the door of the clubs. They have instigated great underage structures, which are now reaping the rewards."

Thu, 10 Sep, 2020 - 18:20

John O’Dowd

After not even reaching the last four of the competition for a period of 27 years, St Brendan's now found themselves in their second successive Kerry County SFC semi-final and a date with champions East Kerry, at Austin Stack Park tonight.

There might be a general feeling of surprise around the Kingdom to see Seamus Murphy’s divisional outfit at the penultimate stage of the championship once again but for those hard at work at the coalface, it is anything but.

Indeed they consider this run as the culmination of painstaking years of underage development, burgeoning club progressions within the division, and the total commitment of this group to put all hands to the pump.

St Brendan's chairman, Alex O’Donnell, explained: “The praise has to land at the door of the clubs. They have instigated great underage structures, which are now reaping the rewards. We have been bolstered by the presence of John Mitchels over the last 10 years or so.

"Na Gaeil have become a force in recent years, and we also have a lot of players from the hurling clubs in the region. I only became chairman this year, with Kenneth Lenihan and Jed O’Connor as vice-chairmen, and Kenneth has been operating an underage academy and development squads over the last couple of years.

"The future crop of players will benefit from this initiative. Our secretary, Mikie Moriarty, has done Trojan work for years.”

While St Brendan's nominally select their players from five clubs – John Mitchels, Na Gaeil, Ardfert, Churchill and St Pat’s Blennerville – O’Donnell is fully appreciative of the input of the small ball protagonists – Causeway, Ballyheigue, Abbeydorney, Crotta and Kilmoyley. It’s a united effort on every level.

“We won the county U21 championship in 2006 and 2008, we had a great run in the senior championship in 2006.

We were on a cusp of a breakthrough, and then Ardfert went senior in 2007. That killed our momentum for a few years.

“This group now has been in an U16 county final, Jack Barry has an U14 county championship medal from 2007, we were county minor champions in 2012. Six or seven of the current panel came from that minor side.

"Then you look at the fact that we have been beaten in three of the last four minor finals by an exceptional East Kerry team. We’re in a good place at the moment.”

St Pat’s stalwart Murphy has been at the helm since 2017 and this season he has brought Ardfert’s All-Ireland junior and intermediate-winning manager Pat O’Driscoll in as trainer to join a backroom team also consisting of Eamon Ferris, Ger Carmody, Brendan McCarthy and Clive O’Callaghan. John Reen, Niall Horgan and Maurice Fitzgerald are also part of the setup.

“If I was picking the best two St Brendan's people that I know, it would be Seamus Murphy and Pat O’Driscoll. They have given an awful lot to the division, in good times and bad times.

The chairman knew from earlier in the Covid-interrupted season that this side had no intention of being satisfied with their 2019 semi-final exit.

“We had a get-together in early June, and 40 players turned up which would have been unheard of! We have a lot of great leaders in this group and I would have to give particular mention to Alan O’Donoghue, David O’Callaghan and Jack Barry."

St Brendan got their campaign underway with a four-point victory (1-15 to 0-14) over West Kerry with full-forward Ivan Parker in sensational form, contributing nine points (seven from play), although they were also indebted to some superb goalkeeping by Eoghan O’Brien. They followed that up with a demolition job on Legion (2-17 to 1-9) in the quarter-final.

The inter-county midfield pairing of captain Barry and the precociously-talented Diarmuid O’Connor crushed Legion’s aspirations with a goal apiece before half-time, and St Brendan's selector Ger Carmody is thrilled with their input.

“They are great guys, their attitude is phenomenal. Jack is our captain, and is leading by example, while Diarmuid knows nothing only 110% commitment. We are lucky to have them.”

St Brendan's have been bolstered this year by the return from injury of full-back Laurence Bastible, while newcomers Luke Mulligan, Ian McCarthy along with Mikey Kelliher have all added to the team ethic. On the negative side, centre-back Andrew Barry is struggling with a groin problem, while Brandon Barrett is slowly returning from a longer-term issue.

Having been beaten by four points (1-18 to 1-14) by East Kerry in last year’s semi-final, principally because of a magnificent individual display by David Clifford, St Brendan's have been boosted by the news that the Kerry captain will not feature due to a one-match suspension which was unsuccessfully appealed.

O'Donnell lays his cards on the table:

“Last week our minors were beaten after extra-time by East Kerry in the final. We should have won the game in normal time.

"We haven’t won many championships in St Brendan's. We have lost a lot and we need to win something. We need silverware on the table. The reality is that we need to win it this year. Na Gaeil could win the intermediate, and be gone for next year. Now is our moment."