Mid Kerry's Gavin Horan has eyes on a twin prize

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Kerins O'Rahilly's Tom Hoare breaks away from Mid Kerry's Gavin Horan. Photo: Don MacMonagle

Gavin Horan’s promotion to the Mid Kerry starting team takes very little explaining.

Milltown/Castlemaine’s five-game run to this month’s county intermediate final provided Horan with ample opportunity to build form and momentum. It provided Horan with a platform to build a case for first-team inclusion that Mid Kerry manager Peter O’Sullivan could not overlook.

The 26-year-old midfielder has dipped in and out of the divisional set-up over the past four and five seasons. When he was in, he never succeeded in fully establishing himself.

First-team regular was a title he never wore.

In the 2020 county final, he saw 11 inconsequential minutes at the finish. In last year’s decider, he never left the dugout. In 2023, though, he has been a constant.

He sat out Mid Kerry’s opener to allow the body recharge after the busy programme of club games. Introduced at half-time during their second group outing against Shannon Rangers, he has been ever-present since. He even chipped in with three points from midfield in the quarter-final dismantling of Na Gaeil.

That he is thriving in the divisional shirt is down to confidence cultivated in club colours. He’s not the only one, mind. Six members of the Milltown/Castlemaine team that will do battle with Fossa and the Cliffords in a fortnight saw game-time during Mid Kerry’s semi-final victory.

“With the club, we haven’t gotten out of the group for the last eight or nine years, so I suppose those extra three or four games would bring you on and put you in the shop window then for Mid Kerry,” says Horan.

“With the club, we knew it was within us the last couple of years, but you kinda need… I wouldn't say the rub of the green, but you need a little bit of belief.

“We were maybe fortunate in that we had a very bad loss to Glenbeigh in the second round. We knew we had to put the shoulder to the wheel after that. We got a draw away to Kilcummin and we said ‘you know what, we’re after getting out of the group, we’ve got a bit of a carrot here, let’s absolutely go for this’.

“We were a completely different team in that Legion semi-final versus the first game against Gneeveguilla or the second against Glenbeigh. We really, really believed in ourselves going into that Legion game.” 

For Horan, his Milltown/Castlemaine buddies, the Clifford brothers, and their Fossa teammate Emmett O’Shea, Sunday’s senior decider will be the first of two county finals they will play over the next fortnight. The intermediate final, fixed for November 19, arrives 10 weeks after the semis were played.

The Milltown-based physio is glad to have had the distraction of the senior championship over the past two months. There should, however, be no need for a distraction. The intermediate championship should be finished before the gun is fired on the race for the Bishop Moynihan Cup.

“Ideally, the intermediate final would be played beforehand,” Horan continued. “You’d come into the divisional set-up knowing it might be your last year or knowing you’re going to be here again next year. You'd know what’s at stake.

“Whereas waiting eight or nine weeks, especially in a championship where we’re feeding off momentum, it’s a long wait for both sides. It should be played beforehand, ideally a two-week gap and get that final done.” 

Further intermediate chat will have to wait. Sunday is the only show in town. Whatever about ending Mid Kerry’s 15-year wait for a county, Horan and his district teammates want to at least show up. That they didn’t in either 2020 or last year.

“With the two finals, I don’t think either game we performed, but it’s also a great credit due to East Kerry. It’s not solely down to Mid Kerry not showing up, it’s also down to East Kerry being such a quality team.

“You try to put out a fire on one side of the pitch, there’s another starting on the other side. East Kerry are a team that would beat most county teams. I’m saying you want to play at the highest level, so who better to play than East Kerry in a county final, and if you’re good enough to beat them you’re definitely deserving of it.

“I’d love to finish the year with two trophies. That’s the ideal world. That’s the dream.”