Heaphy: 'This is a rare opportunity for the group. The whole town is behind us'

SEMI-FINAL: James O'Connor Na Gaeil and Darragh Leahy Listowel Emmets played at Killeen Tralee on Sunday afternoon .

Irrespective of their journey continuing on past this weekend, the once dozing giant of Listowel has eyes open and is wide awake.

Kerry clubs have won the All-Ireland junior football championship on 11 occasions. To emphasise just how ridiculous a level of dominance that is, no other county has had more than two winners.

So, this Saturday afternoon at Tullamore (1pm), Listowel Emmets are attempting to buy a ticket to Croke Park and move a step closer to extending Kerry’s ownership of this junior club competition.

In essence, they’re trying to prove they belong in the same bracket as previous Kingdom winners such as Fossa, Na Gaeil, Beaufort, Glenbeigh-Glencar, and so on and so on.

Nothing new there for Listowel given so much of their 2023 was about making a point to fellow Kerry establishments that theirs was a town not only of size, but stature and skill too.

Vice-captain Darragh Leahy told the Kerryman this week that before their 2023 collection of Kerry and Munster junior silverware, he was blue in the face from hearing how underachieving Listowel was a sleeping giant.

“I work back in Tralee and a load of people would be saying to me that it’s mad that a town the size of Listowel is playing at junior level, but that’s just the card we were dealt with and you can only play what’s in front of you,” Leahy remarked.

“We’re lucky now that we’re strong enough to go up to intermediate and hopefully compete well there.” 

We went after management’s perspective on this subject. Selector John Heaphy reckons the age profile had a lot to do with Listowel being unable to shake their junior status in the years prior to 2023.

“The last three or four years, the team was in transition,” Heaphy began.

“We have quite a young team at the moment. We have three or four lads in their late 20s. Then the majority of them are probably 23 and younger.

“The last three or four years, while we mightn't have had the trophies on the table, we were certainly a team in transition. That has come through this year.

“Winning the North Kerry championship at the end of 2022 gave the group belief that they could go on and achieve better things.”

There are still some big things that can be achieved from the '23 season. Emerging from the cattle crush that is the Kerry junior championship means Listowel are at least equipped for whatever Mayo’s Lahardane MacHales bring to the Tullamore table.

“You don't win a Kerry junior title easy,” Heaphy continued. “We had four huge matches there; Ardfert, Listry, Firies, and Ballymacelligott. They were the four pre-championship favourites. Out of those four games, there was only a point in three of them.

“At the start of the year, we were saying that to get out of the group we were in would be an achievement in itself. But once we got to the latter end in Kerry, we certainly believed that we had it within the squad to go all the way.

“This (All-Ireland series) is a rare opportunity for the group. The whole town is behind us. We just hope the journey won't come to an end on Saturday.”