BY TOM LYONS
WHILE many would have fancied last season’s beaten finalists, Kilmacabea, to reach the SW junior A football final again this season, few would have predicted that their opponents would be Diarmuid Ó Mathúna.
A dual club, but leaning always towards hurling, Mathúna’s spent most of their 55 years of existence campaigning in the B grade football, waiting until 1995 for their first taste of football success, the SW junior B title, adding the county title. Another SW junior B title followed in 2012, along with the confined county title, and the last football honours were
won, the county confined junior B, in 2022.
Their only appearance in a SW junior A final came in 2002, losing to Tadhg MacCárthaigh. Following the county junior B win in 2022, Mathúna’s were back in the A grade but last season they failed to win a game in their group, losing to Castlehaven, Randal Óg, and Tadhg MacCárthaigh in their group on an average score of 3-12 to 1-9. They only survived
relegation when Bandon conceded the relegation play-off. That makes their progression to this season’s final all the more remarkable.
As they faced into this season’s championship, Mathúna’s took on new management. John Roche became manager and brought in Denis Healy as coach. Healy had been involved with Dohenys senior footballers for some years and with Clann na nGael but lived in Mathúna territory north of the town and was delighted to help out. It was no coincidence that Mathúna’s found instant success under his watchful eye.
‘This is my first year in charge of Mathúna’s. Liam O’Reilly was the boss for a few seasons and I was asked by a few people if I would step in this year. I said that I would as manager but not as coach as I have no experience of coaching. I brought in Denis Healy as coach, he was just finishing a stint with the Scorchers (Clann na nGael). He has been a great addition
and Padraig O’Driscoll and Darren Coughlan came on board as selectors,’ explained John. ‘It wasn’t easy starting off as we just about avoided relegation last season. We told the lads to simply go out and play football. I’m not a huge believer in putting 14 or 15 behind the ball, it’s a man’s game, stand up, beat the man you’re marking, play football.’
A problem with most rural clubs is losing players each season, mostly to emigration. How have Mathúna’s been faring?
‘We didn’t get any new players in this season and we didn’t lose any, although one, Cathal Mangan has just gone to Spain to be a pilot and missed the hurling final. We don’t know if he will be available. We had a decent league campaign, lost to Goleen and to Kilmeen, won the rest and won promotion to Division 1, so we were happy with that. The hurlers were also winning their league, mostly the same players, so the momentum was gathering. We managed three decent games before the championship, against Randal’s, Clon, and Bal and we won the three of those, so we entered the championship in the right, positive mood.'
Mathúna’s campaigned in Roinn 1 with Kilbrittain, Ballinascarthy, and St. Colum’s, a tough group. ‘We had a good start against Kilbrittain, we kicked 18 points. We don’t focus on defence, we defend when we have to and we attack when we can. I’d rather lose a game 15 points to 14, than win a game four points to three. We lost against Ballinascarthy but we
did well in that game. We had three lads who never played junior championship before. I think we more than matched Bal in that game except for a short period before the break and near the end when they killed us off. Then against St. Colum’s, we had to win that, a knockout game, a real tough battle and we got over that by a single point,’ said Roche.
Mathúna’s finished second in the group, a mere point behind Ballinascarthy and found themselves in a quarter final against hot favourites, Carbery Rangers. ‘We came out of the blocks quick and hit Ross hard and I don’t think they ever recovered after we got the early goals. Maybe they underestimated us and it’s nice to come in under the radar. We were underdogs, too, against Castlehaven in the semi-final but we had definitely learned from the Bal game and from the Ross game. We’re a young team but they put their shoulder to wheel that night. And the more experienced players like Ted Lordan really led the way in defence. We rode out their first-half storm and won well in the end.'
So then Mathúna’s found themselves in two finals, football and hurling, for the first time since 2002 when they won the hurling but lost the football by two points in a thriller against Tadhg MacCárthaigh. Last Sunday they again started as underdogs in the hurling final against Ballinascarthy and were most unlucky not to win, the game ending level, replay on
November 3rd, busy times for the ‘Maw-Maws’.
‘It’s not a problem really. There are a couple of lads playing football who don’t play hurling and vice-versa but most are involved in both. We have to balance it carefully so there’s no burnout but there’s very good communication between both sets of mentors and it’s working well. Injuries are the big fear always,’ explained Roche.
That brought us eventually to Kilmacabea and the task Mathúna’s face in trying to beat the pre-season favourites for the title. ‘Kilmacabea are a very good team,’ said Roche. ‘We watched them against St. Mary’s and they came back very well to win after struggling in the second half. A bit of magic by Damien Gore swung it. We’ll have our hands full with him, of course, but the lads will deal with it. God nor man wouldn’t stop him from scoring four or five points in every game and
we accept that but it won’t stop us. We’ll start underdogs againand we’ll feed on that. We’re still the only club that can win the double this season. Positivity is the name of the game, I’d never berate any fellow for giving it a try. They’re a great bunch of lads, very positive attitude. We’ll see where that takes us.’
