Ballygiblin confident of having AFL star Mark Keane available for Munster JHC final

Mark Keane in action for Ballygiblin against Dromtarriffe in the Co-Op Superstores Junior A HC final. Picture: Larry Cummins

Ballygiblin are awaiting on confirmation from Collingwood that AFL footballer Mark Keane is free to line out for the Cork side in Sunday’s Munster Club JHC final.

The Ballygiblin management are confident of having the AFL contracted player in their team for the provincial decider against Tipperary’s Skeheenarinky, but, at the time of writing, Keane was still awaiting the all-clear from Collingwood.

Melbourne-based Keane returned home to Ireland in recent weeks for the Christmas holidays, falling back in with the team he helped to Cork junior hurling glory in November.

The 21-year-old was outstanding at centre-back during Ballygiblin’s Avondhu divisional final, county semi-final, and county final wins, but missed their subsequent Munster semi-final victory over Limerick’s Caherline as he had flown back out to Australia for pre-season training with Collingwood.

His pre-Christmas exploits with Ballygiblin are all the more impressive when one considers that Keane — scorer of the match-winning goal in the 2020 Cork-Kerry Munster SFC semi-final — had not played hurling in the three years prior to being involved in Ballygiblin’s run to a first Cork JAHC title.

Ballygiblin captain Fionn Herlihy and teammates celebrate with the cup after their county final win. Picture: Larry Cummins

Should Collingwood greenlight his involvement in Sunday’s fixture, Keane’s availability would boost Ballygiblin’s bid to reach the All-Ireland semi-final stage.

“He is a huge player for us,” said Ballygiblin coach Ronan Dwane.

“Mark is a very determined individual, he is a fella that can turn his hand to most things.

“He has a good temperament for the games and is very capable at a number of different sports, as he has shown.”

Sunday’s Munster final at Mallow (1.30pm) will be a most “unique occasion” as the Ballygiblin and Skeheenarinky clubs sit on either side of the Cork-Tipperary border and are separated by just 10km of road.

“When you start the year, you never think you’ll get to a Munster final and that you’ll be playing, literally, the next parish over.

“I don’t think it has ever happened in Munster before, in either hurling or football, that two neighbouring parishes have met in a Munster club final,” Dwane explained.

“All these fellas are very friendly as they went to the same school. All the Ballygiblin team have gone to Mitchelstown CBS and 13 of the Skeheenarinky team went to Mitchelstown CBS. These lads would have been classmates and teammates in Mitchelstown CBS. Everyone in the Ballygiblin set-up is fully aware that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to go as far as we can.”