Dingle players led turnaround on Clonmel kickout

Dingle's Eoghan de hOra consoles dejected Seamus Kennedy of the Clonmel Commercials

Manager Pádraig Corcoran took no credit for how Dingle turned around their fortunes on Clonmel Commercials’ kick-out in this Munster semi-final.

Their opponents' set-piece had been a major difficulty for the visitors in the first half but they made it a source of strength in the second half.

“It’s on-field management, to be honest with you,” said former Kerry coach Corcoran. “He (Michael O’Reilly) has a huge kick-out and they got a bit of joy there in the first half and they’re a big team, they’ve a lot of big bodies around the field.

“I thought maybe there was a slight breeze blowing into that goal and that maybe helped us a small bit in the second half. The lads worked hard up front and put pressure on the ball coming out.

“I think the lads brought it themselves in the second half. There was great energy there and they tore into it at the start of the second half and I think they grew in confidence.” 

Corcoran acknowledged the five-point contribution of man of the match Dylan Geaney. “Jack (O’Connor) has him inside in the Kerry panel and he’s improving all the time. He was very good throughout the game. At times, we weren’t good in the first half but he with one or two others were leading lights.” 

That all 13 of Dingle’s scores came from play was a statistic which prompted a smile from their manager. “I think we had one free missed in the first half. I’m not sure about the second half. There were one or two that could have given us a bit of daylight but they seemed to be further out the field, out around the 45 and difficult enough kicks. We stepped it up big time in second half in terms of our accuracy.” 

Dingle had shown how seriously they were taking the game by forking out for overnight accommodation in Limerick to offset the journey. “It was probably just that little bit too far to come up on the day,” explained Corcoran. “We put it to the players and thankfully the board of the club were willing to support it.

“We had to because it was maybe 30 miles too far and you’d be worrying would fellas find it unusual because we wouldn’t have any experience of it. It worked out fine, thankfully.” 

Castlehaven present a different challenge in next month’s decider, which will be billed as the battle of the harbours. “We wouldn’t know a whole lot about them and we knew we’d a huge task today so we just put all our focus on this thing and we’ll have to look at Castlehaven tomorrow,” remarked Corcoran, who had no hard thoughts about a venue.

“I don’t know if there’s any relationship between Kerry and Cork as regards a home and away venue. I’m not sure what it will be, to be honest. Wherever it’s going to be, we’re just delighted to be a club final and something to look forward to and shorten the winter a bit.”