'Honest, hungry and humble' Sem ready to face mighty Mercy Mounthawk in Corn Uí Mhuirí final

"They are guys who have done nothing but grind and grind and grind to get where they are and hopefully they can drive on more,” said Kieran Herlihy.

HUNGRY: St Brendan’s College face the might of champions Mercy Mounthawk on Saturday in the Corn Uí Mhuirí Final. Pic credit : Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus LTD .

St Brendan’s College face the might of champions Mercy Mounthawk on Saturday in the Corn Uí Mhuirí Final but their manager Kieran Herlihy speaks like a man who is relishing the challenge.

He has always been a straight talker. He never gets too high after victories nor too down after defeats.

Kieran Herlihy is a realist with a very forensic football brain so when a journalist suggests that maybe his young side are underdogs against a Mercy Mounthawk side, who have shredded every defence in the competition thus far, his defensive antenna flaps.

“People didn't seem too impressed with our first couple of games, but I think the expectation from outside is very different to our expectations within the camp," he said.

"The expectation on the inside is that we are very competitive in this grade every year. It might not have looked that way early on in the first month when we were on the pitch, but maybe there was too much judgment put into the game back in Cromane (Mounthawk beat the Sem by 0-23 to 3-8 in the O'Sullivan Cup semi-final in late September) which was just a couple of weeks into the school year and just two or three training sessions.“

That was Herlihy's explanation before he would go on to maintain that his Sem team have been coming up the rails with a nice run.

“No matter what group you are involved with, you want to see some progress and some accountability after three month's work.

"Once you qualify for the knock-out stages after Christmas, then you can push on. I'm not saying that we are timing it for Cheltenham Hill or anything like that, but definitely we are seeing measurable improvements from game to game.” Herlihy contends.

St Brendans College were the only group toppers who did not recieve a bye into the quarterfinals so they would possibly have liked to avoid the top two Kerry colleges, Mercy Mounthawk and Tralee CBS, at the time.

“To be honest, when the quarter-final draw was communicated to us, well, it's not the draw you would have been looking for," admitted Herlihy.

"Both teams, ourselves and the Green, would feel that we didn't get a reward for topping our group. How much incentive would there be in the future to top your group as opposed to coming second?

"It's just get there. You could also argue that the Kenmare route, having an extra play-off game to develop your panel if you have a large enough panel, might be beneficial as well.

"There are to's and fro's either way. Looking back on it, I suppose that facing Tralee CBS gave our lads nice focus over Christmas.”

The Spa native speaks about the honesty of the St Brendans squad who have a ravenous hunger to do well.

“We can talk about hunger and honesty. They are certainly words that we use ourselves to define the group and that energises us as a management and we are delighted to be working with them," added Herlihy.

“They are a very honest bunch, hungry and humble. These guys are not investing their time in football in school on the back of huge affirmation in second year or third year or fourth year.

"They are guys who have done nothing but grind and grind and grind to get where they are and hopefully they can drive on more. Like I say, they are an incredibly honest group.”

The Sem manager knows that Mounthawk have star players such as Paddy Lane, Daniel Kirby, Tomas Kennedy and Ben Murphy while Jamie Moynihan is arguably the only big name in Sem team. But he is not fazed.

“I know it's a cliché, but our strength is the collective. When we asked them how they see themselves as a group, that's what they came back with. When players see that the collective is strong and they work together and there are small gains in matches because of the collective, then there is huge buy-in.”

What about a Killarney venue and a pitch familiar to St Brendans players and also their nominated home pitch?

“We are grateful, of course, to Dr. Crokes for hosting the game, but in the end a field is a field and it won't be a major advantage to either side." insisted Herlihy.

“I mentioned about the lads being honest, hard-working, and humble – they just want to play. In terms of the pitch being an advantage to negate Mounthawk, I don't believe that for a second.

"You are looking at seasoned campaigners, four guys who are probable starters on the Kerry U20 team, three or four who were huge influences on last year's campaign where they just lost the All Ireland Hogan Cup Final....look, we are up against it in terms of experience, but we have other strengths that hopefully we can rely on.”