Corn Uí Mhuirí: Established forces and pretenders face off in semi-finals
Celebration for Kenmare and disappointment for Mallow during the Corn Uí Mhuirí quarter-final clash between Patrician Academy Mallow and Kenmare in Bishopstown on Wednesday. Picture Chani Anderson
Four Corn Uí Mhuirí semi-finalists, split evenly into two very distinct and different groups.
Two are established forces, albeit one only very recently. They are reigning champions Mercy Mounthawk and 24-time winners St Brendan’s Killarney.
And then there are the pair of pretenders. They’ve earned respect for the path trodden in recent months but remain a distance from being held up in the same company of the former pair. The objective on Saturday so, if not to wipe out the gap altogether, is to at least close it. Got to start somewhere after all.
The pretenders are Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine, Kenmare and Hamilton High School, Bandon. Neither has ever reached the concluding afternoon of Munster post-primary action. In the case of Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine, not alone are they first-time semi-finalists, they are first-time participants in the topflight.
As you can gather from the above information, it’s been a dream debut campaign for the Kenmare school. They overcame Clonakilty and Bishopstown in the group phase to secure knockout involvement with a round to spare. There, a sensational 3-1 final-quarter blitz secured a one-point, come-from-behind preliminary quarter-final victory over St Pat’s Castleisland. Following that was an utterly comprehensive 1-13 to 0-6 quarter-final win over last season’s semi-finalists Patrician Academy Mallow.
A Munster U17B title last April fueled their decision to apply for Corn Uí Mhuirí membership. Ambition long overdue. Nine players from that second-tier victory featured against Mallow.
Kenmare mentor and former Kerry footballer Ronan Buckley mentioned after their quarter-final win how they are very much in bonus territory. And he’s correct to state such for a school operating at this level for the first time. But his comments elsewhere during that post-match chat with the Examiner suggest they’ve no interest in simply being content with semi-final involvement.
The school has spent long enough looking at the football nurseries around them - St Brendan’s, Coláiste na Sceilge, Cahersiveen, and Intermediate School, Killorglin - to not puff out their chest in the latter stages of the Corn Uí Mhuirí. There’s been a determination to prove they are also capable of such. On Saturday afternoon at Mallow (2.30pm), in the company of St Brendan’s, Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine have their chance.
“I started teaching in the school a couple of years ago and Corn Uí Mhuirí wasn’t really a conversation,” said Buckley.
“Even when Seánie [O’Shea, fellow mentor] was playing, they were playing at B level and they’d a strong team.
“Maybe it comes back to the confidence thing. Maybe Kenmare football has been written off a small bit and not really respected.
“I noticed when I came down there was a real ability there and real potential. We’re starting to see that now. I’d like to see a lot more fellas getting a chance with the Kerry teams, to be honest, at U20 and driving on to senior level because I think there’s a lot of talent in that group.”
Kenmare have been beaten just once this season. That was by Bandon. The Hammies are involved in the semi-final opener at Mallow (12 noon). Their task is unenviable, that of attempting to topple runaway champions Mercy Mounthawk. But Bandon arrive in Mallow with confidence. Both because of what they’ve done this season and what former students did in recent enough campaigns.
This is the Hammies’ second semi-final appearance in four seasons. To reach the 2022 semi-final, they beat Mercy Mounthawk. In the last four, they brought eventual champions, St Brendan’s, to extra-time. Besides their subsequent All-Ireland final defeat, Hamilton presented the toughest equation to the Sem of that campaign.
They’re going to need to produce something similar to live with a crowd who’ve been swatting aside opposition with incredible ease these past few months.
“We’ll obviously give it everything against Mercy Mounthawk and we’ll hope it is good enough on the day,” said Hamilton High school coach Paddy Lordan. “It won’t be for a want of trying anyway.” Two established forces, two pretenders. Is there to be a shift in the pecking order?
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