Surprise package Kildimo Pallaskenry look to complete set against Fr Casey’s

Kyle Hayes has changed codes temporarily to help his club lift the Fr Casey Cup. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

It’s safe to say few on Shannonside would have predicted Kildimo Pallaskenry’s march to their first Limerick SFC final (Sunday, 3.30pm, Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale). They meet unbeaten Fr. Casey’s in a novel pairing.

Nobody, surely, would have called this progress when they were inched out by neighbours Askeaton-Ballysteen-Kilcornan in the opening round. Since then, they’ve taken the notable scalps of Adare, Ballylanders as well as knockout victories over Newcastle West and Mungret St. Paul’s.

That quartet have, between them, won 11 of the last 12 championships, so they arrive to Sunday’s final, having come the hard way. When Ballylanders won in 2014, Kildimo-Pallaskenry were winning the Junior B. The two titles that existed in between, Junior A and Intermediate were gobbled up, both on their maiden final appearance, so there is optimism they will collect the jewel in the crown - the senior title.

Standing in their way are Fr. Casey’s. It is a 26th final appearance for the Abbeyfeale club, though they haven’t collected the silverware they share a name with, the Fr. Casey Cup, since 2006.

“I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned this year is the value of a team and a panel. We’ve used something like thirty players in senior championship, and you can really see it. That competition has raised the standards”, says captain Tony McCarthy.

Emigration has hampered many rural clubs and Kildimo Pallaskenry are no different. The likes of Darren O’Connell, Liam O’Sullivan and James Pomeroy unavailable to the club in recent times but one plus this year was the return of Cathal Downes, from Australia.

“Every year the team has changed. Lads have gone away, lads have retired, but you can only deal with that is there and what you have at your disposal. But credit to the current management and the management that have gone by, everybody has always tried to drive things forward in hurling or football. The influence of the younger players coming through has counteracted the fella that we’ve lost, who’ve gone abroad”, added the 32-year-old defender.

With Downes back and nearing 100% fitness, they are at full strength. Throw in Kyle Hayes, who made himself available for the knockout stages and the N69 cub have a the raw materials to land another shock.

McCarthy and Peter Nash are stalwarts of the county football side but manager Declan Nash was quick to praise the rising talent in the club.

“Obviously the big names will get the headlines, and rightly so but four of the back six the last day were u21, two of those are minor. But we had Paudi Hartigan kicking in with 1-2, Conor Staff bagging the goal. It’s senior football, you need everyone to do that”.

With no prior experience of the blue-ribband day domestically, the older heads may need to call upon their green-experience.

“We’ve players who’ve played in Munster finals, All-Ireland finals, Tailteann Cup finals. They can tap into that experience. But we’ve beaten last years champions, we’ve taken out Newcastle West in the quarters, they were big occasions as anything for a club like ours. But I will be telling them to look forward to it, enjoy these moments”, added Nash.

Fr. Casey’s on the other hand, may arrive the expectation and with that may come huge pressure. There has been an expectation, due to their dominance at both the Minor and U20/21 grades, that they should be top of the pile at adult too. However, only in 2024, when they were defeated in the decider by Adare, have they been back to the dance in the last decade and a half.

What is overall a youthful side, they’ve blitzed their way to their place behind the band with some efficiency. Ten goals scored in their six wins, they have an average winning margin of over eight points.

Manager Keith Harnett, part of back-to-back minor winning sides in 2011-12 knows the pain in his hometown, “A year is long, never mind twenty!”, smiled manager Keith Harnett when asked about the twenty year wait for senior glory.

“We hold ourselves to a high standard in the senior ranks. Just because we’ve topped the group doesn’t mean we’ve a right to win it, if we can do it, it will be fantastic to end the barren spell, if not, we’ll have to go again”.

Like Kildimo Pallaskenry, the loss of talented young men to foreign shores have been felt in the west Limerick town.

“It (emigration) has been a challenge. I was part of it, I left going back a couple of years and have now come back. I went to Perth, we were fortunate enough to play a final over and there was ten from Fr. Casey’s on the team. We’ve been struck by it so it has been hard to get back to where we are”.

A return to county final day has the town covered in blue and white once again.

“You can’t compliment the people of Abbeyfeale enough. They do get out and pull out all the stops – whatever we need – we will have big support, so hopefully we can do them proud.” Harnett is expecting a stern test from the final debutants, “Kildimo Pallaskenry are after some huge wins to get here – Adare, Newcastle West and Mungret St. Pauls – so it will be a tough task, no doubt”.

Verdict: Kildimo Pallaskenry