BY KIERAN McCARTHY
SEANIE Cahalane is confident he’ll enjoy his next trip to Lewis Road in Killarney more than his last.
On Sunday the Castlehaven manager will lead his players into the home ground of Dr Crokes – just opposite Fitzgerald Stadium – with the belief that they’ll emerge from this AIB Munster Club Senior Football Championship quarter-final with their provincial title intact.
When these two teams last met in Munster in 2013, it was also a quarter-final tie in Killarney, and the current Haven boss started in their 1-11 to 0-8 defeat. That followed losing the 2012 Munster club final to the Killarney team, too, on a forgettable day at the old Páirc Uí Chaoimh; while Crokes won 0-19 to 0-12, at one stage in the second half they had led by 11.
There was a noticeable gulf between the teams at that time, the Colm Cooper-led Crokes ruled Munster with three-in-a-row (2011-13) and outclassed the Haven two years in a row, but this is a different Castlehaven team now, and the same can be said of the Kerry champions. It’s a level playing field.
Michael Hurley will be a key player on Sunday
‘We lost to them in the Munster final in 2012 and then we drew them in the quarter-final the year after; we had to travel to them in Killarney. I know they gave us a good lesson in 2012 but things were a bit tighter the season after,’ Seanie Cahalane recalls, with the belief that it will be a lot tighter this Sunday afternoon (1.15pm throw-in) than 11 years ago.
Haven have several survivors from that 2013 trip, as Damien Cahalane, Roland Whelton (came on as a sub in the county final against Nemo), Mark Collins and Brian Hurley all started (all four also started the 2012 Munster club final), and Michael Hurley came on as a second-half sub in Killarney. That’s the experience in the current Haven ranks, though Crokes have several players from those 2012 and ’13 clashes still involved – Fionn Fitzgerald, the calming influence in defence, and the ever-green Brian Looney, enjoying one of his best seasons, both started their Kerry county final win against Dingle, with Kieran O’Leary and Daithi Casey adding experience from the bench.
While Castlehaven are now the standard bearers in Cork after clinching two-in-a-row, Crokes’ recent triumph was their first Kerry SFC title since 2018, with the return of Pat O’Shea as manager this season signalling their revival. They didn’t even make it out of the group stages in 2023, but have now won the double this season – Crokes won the county senior club championship (for senior clubs only) as well as the county championship.
‘It’s a tough task to go down there, they’re a good outfit with some top-class players, a lot of fellas involved with Kerry and are strong all over the pitch. We’re expecting a tough battle,’ Seanie Cahalane says, with stopping Kerry forward Tony Brosnan high up on their must-do list. David Shaw and Micheál Burns are two more score-getters that the Haven must look after, but Seanie Cahalane’s side has kept clean sheets in their last four games, including the county semi-final and final against the Barrs and Nemo respectively. More of the same will blunt a Crokes attack that needed a burst of three goals to fight off Dingle in the Kerry final.
With the Hurley brothers and Jack Cahalane hitting their stride at the right time, it offers plenty of encouragement that the West Cork men can pull off a famous win on Kerry soil.
‘If we are in contention coming down the home stretch we’d hope we have the experience to finish strong. It’s about staying in the game as long as you can, to give yourself a fighting chance and to be in a position where you can make a move,’ Cahalane adds, knowing too that this current Haven team is a seasoned outfit at this stage, having slugged it out with the Barrs and Nemo for years before taking the number one spot, and then conquering Munster last season and contesting an All-Ireland semi-final.
‘The fact that we went so late into last year and went all the way to the All-Ireland semi-final meant we had a lot of months together as a group with our county lads, and that did bring on our group big-time. There is a nice mixture in the team, that youth and that experience, and you need that balance in a team.
‘A lot of the lads – like Brian, Michael, Mark, Damien – have been around a long time, they all played back in 2013 when we played Crokes last, so that experience is huge, and it’s a big help to the younger fellas as well. There is a certain level of calmness to them.’
It means that this Castlehaven team doesn’t panic. They have experience in every line. And they also have players returning to form and fitness at the right time, having been without Michael Hurley, Conor Cahalane, Damien Cahalane and Ronan Walsh at various stages. It makes their march to back-to-back titles even more remarkable that it was achieved without some of their heavy-hitters.
‘We’re hoping to have a clean bill of health heading to Kerry,’ Seanie Cahalane confirms.
‘We should be okay. The last couple of months we had a few issues but it’s looking better now.’
A particular boost is the return of Mike Hurley, so influential in last season’s county triumph, to the starting line-up after an ankle issue sidedlined him early in the campaign. The former Cork forward injects speed and scores into this Haven attack.
‘He did have a bit of an issue with his ankle earlier in the campaign, didn’t get a lot of minutes under his belt and was struggling for minutes in some of the games; he didn’t play against Rosscarbery,’ Cahalane explains.
‘He didn’t play as well as he can in the Barrs game and he knew that himself, but we all know how good Mike is. Going into the Nemo game we knew there was a big game in him, and he was outstanding. He’s a class act on and off the pitch.’
Another big performance from Castlehaven on Sunday should be enough to see the Munster champs leave Kerry with a win that would announce them as serious contenders for the big prizes.
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Sunday’s Munster Club SFC quarter-final at Dr Crokes Killarney has a 1.15pm throw-in, with extra-time if necessary, and the game will be shown live on Clubber.
