Kilmurry facing their hour of destiny

SINCE winning the first of their two provincial club titles in 2004, Kilmurry Ibrickane have achieved at every turn.
They regained the Munster title in 2009 and, on March 17, 2010, became the first Clare football club to reach the All-Ireland final. In 2009 they retained the Clare county title for the first time in their history and were unbeaten in the county that year, adding the Cusack and O’Gorman Cups to their trophies.
This year again they won everything in Clare and on Sunday from 2pm at Lewis Road in Killarney, Kilmurry Ibrickane will face a defining hour. 
Although Kilmurry beat Kerins O’Rahilly’s in the 2009 Munster final, their opponents were not the Kerry county champions. If a divisional team wins the Kerry county title they are not allowed to represent the county in the Munster club or, if the county championship is behind schedule, the club championship winners (a separate competition) represent Kerry in Munster.
This year there is no questioning Dr Crokes pedigree. They have won successive county titles and are keen to return to the Munster final stage where they lost last January.
They are not a one-man team but the presence of Colm Cooper in their line-up illustrates the scale of Kilmurry’s task. Kieran O’Leary, Daithí Casey and Jamie Doolan are all top class forwards while Eoin Brosnan and midfielders Johnny Buckley and Ambrose O’Donovan are also very capable footballers.
Dr Crokes will definitely have a competitive edge given they have played a county final, Munster club quarter-final and a Kerry league game since Kilmurry  won the county final in October.
The Clare side have, however, played some quality challenge games against St Brigid’s (Roscommon), Garrycastle (Westmeath) and NUIG. They have a few injury worries, though, including Johnny Daly (hamstring), Enda Coughlan (groin), Niall Hickey (ankle) and Odran O’Dwyer, who picked up a knock against NUIG.
Coughlan didn’t play in any of the challenge games and only returned to training last Friday. Niall Hickey twisted his ankle against Garrycastle but, following a few days on crutches, has been doing some light jogging.
It has been so long since the Clare final that Kilmurry’s blistering form that day is no longer a reliable barometer of their performance potential. What is a fact, though, is that they are hugely experienced in every part of the field.
Goalie Peter O’Dwyer, the only starting player in the county final without a Munster medal won on the field, has enjoyed a superb year. In the county final he was fronted by 14 players who played in the 2010 All-Ireland club final, as did county final substitutes Johnny Daly and Odran O’Dwyer.
Kilmurry will be hugely motivated knowing that beating Dr Crokes at home is a win that will resonate nationwide. But how will they do it?
While most focus will be on who will pick up Colm Cooper and Kieran O’Leary, the Kilmurry full-back line will be badly exposed unless they are protected by their 11 colleagues up the field.
If the team allows Dr Crokes the chance to pick out the runs of their inside forwards, Kilmurry will have no chance. Instead they will be trying to impose their game on Dr Crokes, mixing their possession game with direct ball into their full-forwards and relying on Ian McInerney to point any frees within range. 
Kilmurry will probably opt to play Enda Coughlan in a roving role where he might slot into the half-back line when Dr Crokes have possession, allowing a half-back to drop in front of Cooper or O’Leary. Of course Dr Crokes might opt to play Cooper at centre-forward.
Shane Hickey, Martin McMahon and Declan Callinan all have pivotal roles in the Kilmurry defence while Peter O’Dwyer must give them a platform at midfield alongside Paul O’Connor.
One of the keys for Kilmurry will be ensuring they don’t play too defensively, thereby removing their own attacking threat.
They are very unlikely to be cowed by the pressure. They have been building towards this type of match and a style of play and winning mentality that will hopefully help them to an era-defining win.
Yet, while Kilmurry will leave everything they have in Killarney, it’s unlikely to be enough. Home advantage will be a huge asset to Dr Crokes. Kilmurry will not lack support in the stand but, on the field, they may come up short.

Hickey’s sights set on cornering The Gooch

Shane Hickey has plenty to keep him occupied this week. Come the weekend his place of work will change but the workload won’t slacken. Not with Colm Cooper buzzing in the vicinity. The Kilmurry Ibrickane corner-back is a Mayorstone (Limerick)-based garda who is thankful that work is helping to distract him as the weekend trip to Killarney looms.
When it strikes 2pm at Dr Crokes GAA grounds on Sunday, Hickey is very likely to be in the company of Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper. The plan is that Hickey will shadow Cooper for the hour and if he manages to even partially curtail the red haired, fleet-footed magician, Kilmurry Ibrickane will on the cusp of the most memorable result in their club’s history.
“The Gooch is probably the best footballer to ever play the game in my opinion,” Hickey said. “Everyone you talk to is asking ‘are you marking Gooch?’ But you have to get on with it. He’s a classy player and all you can do is just do your best against him. It’ll be just like marking anybody else, you’re going to get stuck in and do your best,” he added.
The Kilmurry corner-back is banking that the Clare champions’ work rate high up the field will aid himself, his brother Darren and Martin McMahon in the full-back line.
“Half the battle will be if we can win around the middle and stop the supply in. It doesn’t matter if it’s Gooch, Kieran O’Leary or whoever else inside there, if the supply is cut off, we’ve a great chance. Come this time of the year, around November, December, it’s normally not pretty football. You’d win most games if you can win 60 or 70% of the ball in the middle area. Looking at them the last day, the Gooch got two goals just after half time against Ballynacourtney. So it’s about us keeping our concentration at the back as well,” Kilmurry’s 2008 championship winning captain noted.
Bookmakers are giving Kilmurry scant chance of beating the Kerry champions. The 2004 and 2009 Munster champions are 5/1.
“We’ve a couple of lads who like to have a punt and they were on about it the other evening. We’re underdogs, which is a change for us. We’re normally favourites going into a game although we like going in as underdogs. Looking at the bookies, they’re expecting Crokes to beat us by five or six points. I think we’ve prepared well for us and while they are favourites and have all the stars, we’re quietly confident,” Hickey revealed.
Recent challenge games against St Brigid’s (Roscommon), Garrycastle (Westmeath) and NUI Galway have afforded Kilmurry quality and testing warm-up fixtures. Kilmurry haven’t played a competitive game since the county final on October 16. Since then, Dr Crokes have won the Kerry county final, defeated Ballynacourtney in Munster and they played a Kerry county league game against Gneeveguilla last weekend.
“I wasn’t there for the St Brigid’s game but I think we ended up losing by a point to them. We drew with Garrycastle and they won by 14 points last weekend and Brigid’s won well the week before that against Tourlestrane (Sligo) in the Connacht club. In saying that, we don’t know are Crokes miles ahead of these lads or what way things are with them,” he acknowledged.
Until this year, Hickey was primarily a wing-back although he played at wing-forward when Kilmurry won their first Munster club title in 2004. All through 2011 though, he’s had the number two on his back. If he was picking the team himself he probably would place himself in a more advanced position.
“I always say I’ll play where I’m put and I won’t argue with the lads. But I would prefer to play a bit further out the field. I was asked earlier on in the year to fill in back there; with Mark Killeen gone to Australia we were lacking a corner back. I went in and things started to work out and I’ve been left there ever since. I don’t know if it’s I’m not good enough to play out further or not but I’ve been left there anyway!” he laughed, perhaps reflecting that his reward for agreeing to play corner-back is the task of marking ‘Gooch’ Cooper.
“When you’re playing wing-back you’ve got a great chance to go forward and you can even put the wing-forward on the back foot but at corner-back you’ve to mind the house and watch any breaking ball back there,” he observed. Hickey did, however, score three points from play in Kilmurry’s win over Wolfe Tones in the group stage of the county championship. Sunday’s Munster semi-final is likely to be a touch more taxing though.
“For us this is probably the biggest game since the All-Ireland club final. We haven’t played anyone with the stature or stars that they have. They have maybe five Kerry players. Kerins O’Rahilly’s had a few (2009 Munster final) but probably not to the same standard as Cooper, O’Leary and Eoin Brosnan. It’s a huge game for us. Our fans will enjoy the trip down to Killarney. It’s a great town and it would be huge if we could pull off a win,” he said.
Earlier this week Shane Hickey worked evenings before switching to days as Sunday approaches. Yet even on the beat in Limerick he cannot avoid talk of ‘Gooch’ and Dr Crokes.
“I’m working until Saturday so that’s helping to take the mind off the game. Everyone is talking about it back at home and even at work people are talking about it,” Hickey confirmed, hopeful that come 4pm on Sunday, hundreds of Kilmurry Ibrickane supporters in Killarney will be painting the town red and green.