SOMETHING that you want more than anything but that’s very hard to achieve or get your hands on can be described as a ‘Holy Grail’.
For Castlehaven’s senior footballers, their Holy Grail is an All-Ireland club football championship title – and they could take another step towards achieving that on Sunday when they take on Kerry club champions Dingle at the Gaelic Grounds in the Munster senior club football final in Limerick (2pm).
Even though the Skibb boys next door have only won one county title (1992), they followed it up in the 1993 season with an All-Ireland club title. Still, that O’Donovan Rossa team is the only West Cork club to win this coveted crown. That means something.
This year the Haven won their sixth county senior football title and have previously won three Munster club titles but the Holy Grail has eluded them – and it’s something their near neighbours still have over them.
Cork football's record in the Munster club senior championship is very good, mainly thanks to Nemo Rangers who account for 17 of Cork’s 31 titles. Most recently St Finbarr’s defeated Austin Stacks in 2021 and Nemo beat Clonmel Commercials in ’19. In ’22 we watched Clonmel Commercials overpower Nemo at Páirc Uí Chaoimh so the football public stood up and took note when Dingle defeated the Tipp men 0-13 to 0-10 to book their place in this season’s provincial final. The West Kerry outfit are a dangerous opponent with great balance to their team and free-scoring forwards aplenty.
Castlehaven have had a stunning season to date. They got better as the season progressed. They emerged from another West Cork group of death, having drawn with Carbery Rangers, beating Valleys and then Clonakilty by a point to go on and defeat Ballincollig, the Barrs and Nemo to take the county title. There was no soft side of the draw, the Haven beat the best the county had to offer. They are arguably the most balanced side the club has turned out and all of their key players look to be on form at the same time.
They had a slight lull in the Munster club quarter-final but found a way in a dour, defensive encounter with Cratloe from Clare. Castlehaven had a scare early against Rathgormack from Waterford in the semi-final, but the Hurley brothers again shot the lights out to take them through. Michael Hurley's return to his best form this year has been key as it takes some of the focus off Brian. Playing Mark Collins in a deeper role has given him a new lease of life late in his career and Damien Cahalane is probably playing his best football ever in the anchor role in defence.
Castlehaven's Damien Cahalane is playing some of the best football of his career.
All of these guys would have been around in 2012 when Dr Crokes defeated Castlehaven in their last Munster club final appearance – and that experience will be invaluable on Sunday. This group of players will want to equal and better the great names of the past and become the first Castlehaven team to defeat Kerry opposition in a Munster club final. In the ’89, ’94 and ’97 final victories Haven bettered Clare and Tipperary opposition. To take a Kerry scalp would winter well in Castlehaven.
Dingle have never won a Munster club title and this is their first Munster senior campaign; they qualified to represent their county as a result of their Kerry senior club championship victory in September. Their hope would have been to go on and win the overall Kerry county championship but they fell to Mid Kerry (2-10 to 0-9)in the semi-final having impressively topped their group and hammered Templenoe in the quarters. Their performance in the semi-final was meek in a championship dominated by the East Kerry division in recent years. In fact, Kerry’s most recent club representatives, Kerins O’Rahillys, are current Munster club champions but have been relegated to intermediate this season, throwing the whole Kerry club structure into turmoil and heralding calls for a complete revamp.
The return of Australian Rules player Mark O’Connor was central to Dingle’s run this season along with current Kerry seniors Tom O’Sullivan, Barry Dan O’Sullivan and Paul Geaney. There are four Geaneys in their forward line with Paul playing a withdrawn role, leaving his brother Conor to spearhead the attack inside, ably supported by their cousins Mikey and Dylan. The Geaneys accounted for nine of their 13 points against Commercials, and they’ll take watching with Dylan in particularly good form.
Whichever manager comes up with the best plan to tie up the opposition’s firepower will most likely come out on top in what I expect to be a very tight affair that will go down to the wire. If Mark O’Connor is back from Oz, will he tag Brian Hurley like he did when he kept David Clifford scoreless from play in last year's Kerry championship. Will Tom O’Sullivan be given the Michael Hurley job and use his own attacking prowess to drag Hurley away from goal? Will Rory Maguire track Paul Geaney in his deeper role? Will the Haven have enough in their inside line so they don’t have to sacrifice putting Damien Cahalane back on Conor Geaney? The battle in the middle third will dictate the quality of the supply and whoever gets the upper hand here could be the difference at the final whistle.
St Brigids, the Connacht champions, await the winners in an All-Ireland semi-final. It would be a timely boost for Cork football, if Castlehaven, Cill na Martra (intermediate) and Kilmurry (junior) bring home the silverware this weekend. My call on the main event: Castlehaven after extra time. One step closer to the Holy Grail.
