Christy O'Connor talking points: Trant channels Culloty and Kingdom code-breakers
DRIVING ON: Cork's powerhouse midfielder Colm O'Callaghan drives past Kerry's Cillian Trant in last Saturday's McGrath Cup final, the Rebels' first competitive win in Killarney since 1995. Pic: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
When Kerry arrived in Clarecastle on a dank and cold night on the second week in January to play Clare in the McGrath Cup, 14 of the 23 players they used were wearing a senior jersey for the first time. Any opportunity in Kerry is always an auditioning process but some of the lesser-known names were out to make a statement. Especially Cillian Trant.
A long year had finally come around for Trant. After making his league debut against Donegal in February 2025, Trant was hauled off at half-time and didn’t feature for Kerry again until a Dillon Quirke Foundation fundraising game against Tipperary in December. Kerry effectively used two teams that night but Trant was one of just two players to feature for the 70 minutes. And three weeks later in Clarecastle, it was obvious that Trant was on a mission of atonement.
It’s still only March but Trant has been excellent to date in this league, with Saturday against Mayo another personally productive display. Trant is playing with an edge because operating at the highest level for Kerry is something he has been well used to – just in another code.
A member of the Kerry panel that contested the 2022 Joe McDonagh Cup final, Trant was a key player in Crotta O’Neill’s county senior hurling success in 2023, when the club won a first Kerry senior title in 55 years. The following year in 2024, Trant won a Fitzgibbon Cup medal with Mary I.
It's rare in Kerry for a player to play senior hurling and football for the county but there have been some notable examples. Despite being an iconic footballing figure, Johnny Culloty’s first appearance in a Kerry jersey was as a hurler. He was only 14 when first playing for the minors as a goalkeeper, before going on to play for four years in that grade.
Culloty was the first Killarney man to win an All-Ireland hurling medal with Kerry. In 1961, Culloty was part of the side that won an All-Ireland Junior title when beating London in the final. Kerry had beaten Meath in the ‘Home’ final in which Culloty scored two goals.
Tom Collins, who was also part of that victorious 1961 Junior hurling side, was a member of the football squad that won the Sam Maguire in 1959. Another 1961 All-Ireland Junior hurling winner, Bill McCarthy – who was the first Kerry hurler to win a Railway Cup medal (in 1957) – played two league games for the footballers in 1959.
Three years after winning an All-Ireland Junior hurling title in 1972, John Bunyan played in the 1975 Munster football final and All-Ireland semi-final and was part of the panel that beat Dublin in the final. The following year, Bunyan won an All-Ireland B title with the hurlers.
Over the following decades, a number of high-profile footballers bagged All-Ireland underage hurling titles before winning All-Ireland senior football medals. Paul Galvin won an All-Ireland Minor B in 1997, and an U21B in 1998. From the current squad, Paul Geaney won an All-Ireland U21B hurling medal in 2010. Barry Dan O’Sullivan also has that U21B medal from 2017.
Bernard McElligott was a fine Kerry hurler who played in the Munster football championship against Cork in 1993 and against Limerick in 1995. McElligott also made 15 league appearances for the footballers. Having played senior hurling championship for Kerry, that’s Trant’s next target now – to play senior championship football for the county.
And Trant is well on track.
When Kerry obliterated Armagh in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final with a blitz of 0-14 in just 14 minutes, the statistical breakdown of that bombardment made for horrific reading for Kieran McGeeney’s side.
Eleven of Kerry’s 14 origins of possession in that time came from kickouts, with 11 of those sourced from Armagh’s restarts. Those numbers were even more damaging again considering what Kerry did with that possession – they scored 0-9 from the Armagh restart in that timeframe.
Donegal had shown in the Ulster final of how much of an attacking platform could be gained from getting a handle on the Armagh kickout. Yet nobody envisaged the dominance Kerry were able to exert in that blitz, especially when Armagh had been so effective around the middle, and when they had a perceived physical advantage in that sector.
McGeeney has had plenty to say on kickouts throughout this league but the manner of that beatdown on restarts – all of Kerry’s 0-14 in that blitz were sourced from kickouts – was also highly instructive of what Armagh needed to do in that situation again. And, also, of the damage they could inflict themselves with that kind of momentum in their hands.
And Armagh did on Saturday night in Croke Park what Kerry did to them last June. With relegation staring them in the face, Armagh gunned down Dublin with the ammunition they stole from their restart. In a remarkably similar timeframe, and scoring return, to last June, Armagh scored 1-6 from the Dublin kickout in 14 minutes.
Armagh had sourced all of their scores in the first half off kickouts, but they had only accumulated 1-6. In the second half though, Armagh scored 1-14 off kickouts, with 1-9 being sourced from the Dublin restart.
The last time Armagh were in Croke Park, they were given a hard lesson from Kerry on kickouts. And they put those lessons to good use on Saturday night.
Shortly after Tralee CBS defeated St Gerald’s Castlebar in the Hogan Cup semi-final two weeks ago, manager Marc Ó Sé spoke about how much the result meant to the group.
“We’re delighted to be in Croke Park,” he said. “That was our dream at the start of the year.”
It's unusual that a school with 17 Corn Ui Mhuirí (Munster) titles would now only be contesting a second All-Ireland final tomorrow (they lost to Omagh CBS in 2007) but Tralee CBS won eight of those provincial titles between 1931-’45 before the Hogan Cup was played for the first time in 1946.
Tralee CBS lost six-successive Hogan Cup semi-finals before finally breaking past that frontier in 2007 when beating St Pat’s Navan in the semi-final.
When they won their next Corn Uí Mhuirí again in 2020, Tralee CBS never got to play in the Hogan Cup as the competition was cancelled shortly before they were due to meet St Gerald’s Castlebar in the semi-final.
History has taught Tralee CBS harsh lessons while Coláiste Mhuire Mullingar, their opponents tomorrow, got that difficult education last year when losing the Hogan Cup semi-final to St Colman’s Claremorris. At least a host of those players absorbed those lessons two weeks ago against Abbey CBS, just like a raft of the Presentation College Athenry players showed their experience from last year in their Croke Cup semi-final victory against St Flannan’s nine days ago.
PCA lost last year’s final to Thurles CBS by one point. Tomorrow is PCA’s sixth final appearance, their fifth in the last eight years of competition, and their fourth against St Kieran’s.
PCA, Tralee CBS and Coláiste Mhuire (who are in a first final) are all aiming for a maiden title while St Kieran’s, who are appearing in their 40th final, are seeking a staggering 26th title.
Kieran’s have long been the masters, but PCA, Tralee CBS and Coláiste Mhuire Mullingar are finally looking to master the Croke and Hogan Cup.
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