Dingle aiming to become the fourth Kerry club in a very select group

Becoming the fourth Kerry club to win Munster without having won the county championship would do them just fine. For now anyway.

Dingle's Darragh O'Sullivan and Mikey Geaney celebrate after the game. Pic Credit ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

On March 24th 1985, the town of Castleisland in north Kerry effectively shut down, emptying out as almost every single person in the place travelled 75 miles up the road to Tipperary Town. 

The Desmonds had reached the All Ireland club football final for the first time, where they met St Vincent’s, the powerhouse of Dublin football.

Castleisland’s only county senior final win had come in 1950 but they had been progressively developing over the previous ten years, having won three county Intermediate titles and four North Kerry Championships. 

They only managed to score four times in the final but one of those scores – a late goal from Donie Buckley – was enough to secure a historic All-Ireland club title.

The Desmonds retained their Munster title at the end of that year when beating St Finbarr’s in the final by nine points. 

Their quest to become the only other side along with the Barrs (at the time) to win successive All-Ireland club titles fell narrowly short when the Desmond’s lost the 1986 final to Burren of Down.

Up to that point of the All-Ireland club championship, most of the titles had been won by the big city and town clubs, or colleges sides. 

Castleisland’s Munster and All-Ireland success was all the more unique again because that team didn’t even win a Kerry county title in either of those years. 

Their odyssey was even more unbelievable considering they were still an Intermediate team at the time.

It would be inconceivable now to think that an Intermediate team could win an All-Ireland club football title, especially when a very clear trend has emerged in the club championship, particularly amongst the most successful clubs on the provincial and national stage – they have their own championship in a headlock.

Corofin were used to dominating Galway; Kilcoo have won 11 of the last 12 Down championships; after Slaughtneil ruled Derry during the last decade, Glen are now threatening to do something similar, securing three Derry titles in-a-row last month; Scotstown have won eight Monaghan titles since 2013.

Whoever wins Sunday’s Ulster final between Glen and Scotstown will meet Kilmacud in the All-Ireland semi-final, after Crokes became the first side to win three Leinster titles in succession.

Kerins O’Rahillys' rattling of Crokes in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final was even more noteworthy considering the Tralee side haven’t won a county title in 21 years. 

Similar to Castleisland in the 1980s, Dr Crokes won Munster titles in 1990 and 2006 despite not winning the county title in each of those seasons. 

Crokes, who lost the 2007 All-Ireland final after a replay, secured their passage into the 2006 Munster club campaign as the defeated county finalists because there was no Kerry club championship between 2006-’08.

Given the strength and history of the divisional sides, Kerry’s club teams have always had a unique access point into Munster; if a team doesn’t win the county championship, their place in Munster goes to the winners of the Kerry club championship. 

In 2000, Glenflesk reached a Munster final after representing Kerry in the province as one-off Millennium Cup winners.

The strength of the divisional sides has meant that 30 different teams have represented Kerry in the Munster club championship as non-Kerry champions. Ten have previously gone on to reach Munster finals, which can be distilled into just five clubs; Austin Stacks (1974, 2021), Castleisland (1982, 1984, 1985), Crokes (1990, 2006), Glenflesk (2000) and O’Rahillys (2009 and 2022). 

Three went on to win a provincial title – Castleisland, Crokes and O’Rahillys.

Castleisland were absolutely unique because they played in six Munster club championships in the 1980s, despite never winning the county championship in any of those seasons. The Desmonds just got their ticket into Munster consistently stamped because a divisional or district team won the county title in each of those years.

Laune Rangers won successive county titles in 1995 and 1996 but they still represented Kerry in Munster for five successive years at the end of the 1990s - twice as county champions, twice as Kerry club champions, and once (1997) as county final runners-up, as there was no club championship that season.

That period was dominated by East Kerry (county championship winners between 1997-’99) just as the recent years have again been owned by the eastern division. 

The terrain is just different this time around because, unlike the late 1990s, different clubs have been winning the club championship while East Kerry have been gobbling up county titles; this is the first time that different winners of the Kerry club championship have reached Munster finals in successive years.

Castlehaven know all about this territory too. After losing the 1997 county final to Beara, the Haven went on to win Munster. 

Along with Castleisland, St Finbarr’s are the only other club to win an All-Ireland (1987) after failing to win their county championship; they lost the 1986 Cork final to Imokilly.

In their first sojourn into Munster, Dingle won’t be thinking that far ahead. Aiming to become the fourth Kerry club to win Munster without having won the county championship would do them just fine.

For now anyway.