Gavin White's clean bill of health driving Crokes on

OLD FRIENDS: Dingle's Paul Geaney looks to get the shot off despite the best efforts of his inter-county colleague Gavin White (Dr Crokes) when the sides met in the Kerry Club SFC final in September. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

It is hardly a coincidence that Dr Crokes have returned to the Kerry decider in Gavin White’s first club campaign in three years. A correlation beyond dispute.

Where Crokes cut a frustrated entity on the field in recent years, White cut an even more frustrated figure of it.

As the Crokes slipped from beaten semi-finalists to beaten quarter-finalists to fallers at the first group-phase fence, their sole Kerry starter was a helpless spectator.

Kerry’s All-Ireland final win over Galway in July of 2022 was White’s final outing of that year. A heavy bang to his knee during the semi-final victory over Dublin exacerbated an already existing cartilage problem and saw him go under the knife for a micro-fracture operation three weeks after Sam was collected.

Twelve months later, White was hoping club duties would help flush from the system the disappointment of Kerry coming up short in their defence of Sam. Instead, a hamstring injury in Crokes’ third and final group outing of the club championship meant another autumn laid up.

“I was out for the bones of 10 weeks with that hamstring injury. I've done my fair share of injuries over the past two years to do me a lifetime,” White said this week.

“You are helpless. There is not a whole pile you can do. You can try your best on the sideline to encourage younger fellas and encourage the team as a whole, but it is difficult.

“We played Kenmare here at home in a club semi-final last year, and the week before I had got bad news about the hamstring, so I am trying to control myself over that while at the same time trying to encourage the boys to try and get over Kenmare. It was frustrating, to be honest.” 

Kenmare beat the hosts by five in that club championship semi-final. Crokes then lost to Dingle and Na Gaeil to find themselves eliminated from the county championship. It was a first failure in nine years to make the knockout stages.

The 27-year-old half-back has been ever-present in black and amber the past three months. It’s showed. Crokes first returned to the knockout stages and then returned to a first county final since 2019.

He’s enjoying the run. He’s also honest enough to admit he wasn’t enjoying his football when the run started.

“This year, Kerry ended at the semi-final stage. You are back in with the club two weeks later, which is a very short turnaround, and you are obviously still dealing with the disappointment of how the inter-county season ended.

“Truthfully, it does take a couple of weeks before you settle back into things, before you settle back into a good routine and you start enjoying football again. It was definitely a challenging period.” 

There’s the personal pressure too to be a leader in this Crokes dressing room. The sense of responsibility he feels to drive matters on. To do as others did when he joined the dressing room as a minor in 2015.

“I was in a dressing room with Colm Cooper, Johnny Buckley, Daithí Casey, Brian Looney, Eoin Brosnan, some absolutely fantastic Crokes people, Crokes players, and Kerry players. I would have learned an awful lot from them, just subconsciously looking at them and how they prepared for training or how they went about their daily business.

“I think a lot of those attributes would have settled in with me. They set standards for the club and themselves that I liked and would have tried to bring bits and pieces into my own game. I don’t think I’ll appreciate how much I was shaped by them until I retire and look back.” 

For now, the gaze is firmly fixed forward, on ending six years without Bishop Moynihan acquaintance.

“We are fully aware we went through a golden generation there when I first came in. We were very successful and we are very aware that that doesn't happen everywhere. It was very frustrating that we weren't getting to county finals or being successful in recent years.

“Thankfully, we were able to turn it around this year. To get the county league and club championship into the pocket and then obviously to get back to the county final is a huge satisfaction.” 

Satisfied, though not sated.