Date With Destiny

Kinsale Intermediate Footballers contest their first County Final since 2001 this coming Sunday. Their opponents will be Beara men Castletownbere.

Since we went up in 2006, the team has struggled to make an serious impression and has had to fight off a few relegation battles along the way. Two years ago they did win promotion from Division 4 and last year they consolidated in Division 3. The best Championship runs had brought them to quarter finals in 2006 and 2009, losing to Castletownbere and Fermoy respectively.

With such a record it is difficult to build on underage success and keep the momentum. You are out of the Championship mid-Summer but must keep ticking over to complete the league. As everyone who plays G.A.A. knows, getting motivated to train for league games doesn't quite fit in with the psyche.

That league promotion in 2009 wasn't without significance. It showed there was promise in the young lads coming through. They'd won a couple of Minors and an U-21 South-East so the pedigree was confirmed. Still, they needed to transfer that success to Intermediate Championship. The longer the gap is between those underage successes and adult success, the more and more that momentum diminishes.

In that sense, this was a make or break year in my opinion. Gearoid Condon has been involved with much of this group for the last ten years, either as player or coach. He was captain in 2001 and led those recent underage teams to the successes I mentioned.

When he took over the Intermediates a couple of years ago he had a clear plan about what he wanted to do and how he wanted to develop the group. He put a big emphasis on the Junior set-up because he knew he would need a big panel and to get that, guys would need plenty of opportunity to play. And not just play for the Juniors. Even previously 'unfashionable' players would be brought into the Intermediate set-up and be given a shot. Commitment was rewarded and lads responded.

That plan I mentioned is pretty much on track. He said to a few of us at the beginning of the year that if the team could get to the quarter-final, anything could happen. Once there, momentum can really kick in as the games come thick and fast. And that's how it has unfolded. A replay win against Youghal was followed up with a convincing victory over pre-Championship favourites Kildorerry in the semi. Now the seasoned Castletownbere stand in their way.

What has been most notable about the campaign is how the team has evolved. The selectors haven't been afraid to make bold decisions, dropping some guys and bringing more in from the cold. Some outside the camp have been critical of some of the players chosen and decisions made but the management have been vindicated so far.

I'm don’t know where Kinsale were in the bookies rankings at the start of the year but I'm sure it was somewhere in the bottom third of contenders. On Sunday they will again be underdogs but that won't bother them. They've been upsetting the odds all year.

The position they are in ahead of Sunday contrasts starkly with our last County final in 2001. Then we lined up against Ilen Rovers who were really a Senior team playing Junior. They would prove that when breezing through the Intermediate ranks and contesting a County Senior final soon after. Their full forward line of Kieran Daly, Brian & Kevin O'Sullivan were all around the Cork Senior team at that time. Outside them, Pat Connolly and Jason Whooley were no strangers to the National League. Ed & John Sheehy were Cork Juniors as was Diarmuid Duggan who would progress to Senior level along with John Wycherley. And that's before we mention midfielder Fachtna Collins, another Cork Senior. There were a few more with Cork Minor and U-21 experience in their ranks. It was an ominous task.

In 1999, they had put up a cricket score against us in the County semi. It was an absolute embarrassment. Our players were either too young or too old at that time. By 2001 we were a hardened team having come through some massive battles. Two stand out for me, against our most bitter local rivals, Courcey Rovers.

Courcies and ourselves are separated by the Bandon River. Most of the lads went to school together and the rivalry is intense to say the least. The build up to these games is unreal, with everyone in the town wanting to talk about it.

The first game was in 1999 in the South-East semi-final, my Championship debut. They had beaten us after a replay in the 1997 final. It was one of the first Championship games I remember attending. I wouldn’t forget it though. At one stage, with the ball down the other end of the field, everyone’s attention was drawn to an incident away from play. There were two Courcies sprawled out on the ground and a fairly guilty looking Kinsale man standing in between. He’d get the line but that wasn’t the end of the shenanigans. There would be more rows and punches thrown by both players and mentors. Wild west stuff.

The ’99 game was played in Innishannon’s town pitch, a great venue for a game. There’s a big bank on one side of the pitch where the crowd gathers and you have to pass through them on the way down to the pitch. It never failed to get heart pounding.

Anyway, they started the stronger and had a penalty just before half-time which went over the bar to give them a five point lead. We had a fierce young team with a host of the previous year’s minors and the ’99 minor team. We were up to the challenge though and ripped them in the second half. The decisive score came from one of those minors, Barry Gray. I can still remember it. Barry’s pace was unreal and he got in from the bank side of the town end and burst the net. A two fingers to all the doubters. Funnily enough, ten twelve years on, it was a Barry Gray left footed point that rescued a draw in this year’s quarter final against Youghal.

In the 2001 South-East final, we had to dig even deeper against the same opposition. Trailing 0-7 to 0-1 at half-time, our trainer Seamus McCarthy had us believe our first score, just before half-time would change the world and we could kick on and win. We were now within two scores of being level he told us. He instilled great believe in that team and on we went, led by Conor O'Brien and Gerry Murphy, to tear the Courcies apart in the second half.

By the time the County final came around in the first week of December we had huge self belief, despite the task facing us. At half-time we were level against our much heralded opponents and Conor had gone close with a one on one. The pace was frantic though and I can remember being bollicksed in the dressing room at half-time. We couldn't live with them in the second half and they cleared the first hurdle on their journey to Senior ranks.

The task facing this year’s team is more of a hill than a mountain. It's well within their capability to win it. They've met Castletownbere in recent years and even though they haven't beaten them, they've been there or there abouts. Kinsale have improved this year and some of Castletownbere's stalwarths aren't getting any younger with the passing years.

I was comparing the 2001 team and the 2011 team over the weekend but quickly realised it was futile. I haven't seen enough of the existing group to really judge. What we had in 2001 was a battle hardened core. Those local derbies were the making of us. We were a very close group both on and off the pitch. The team was made up of nine of the 1999 U-21 team. Eight of the first nine names on the team sheet were of that ilk. Having a defence who had played that much together was invaluable. Colm McCarthy was the ninth member of that team. However, from that U-21 group, it should be noted that Cian Quigley came on in the 2001 final, Conor O'Brien (sub in 1999) started and Barry Gray played a key role in the campaign. That was some return from an underage team and there was a great bond.

A lot of the current group haven't been through as many testing campaigns and had the same experiences of local derby dogfights. They are getting that experience this year though and have had to stand up for each other on more than one occasion. Just last Thursday they played a crucial league game up in Mallow and stood up to some overly physical play to come away with a win. Then they faced Newmarket last Sunday in a win or bust game and won convincingly. Those are the type of games that harden lads and this year the team has bridged the gap.

Any shortfall in experience in the younger lads will be made up by the older lads. Lyndon, Barry, Colm, Mick Sull, Keohane and Quigley have over twelve years under their belts in the adult grades. The 2001 team never had that kind of profile.

We had our stars in that team, no boubt. Fours lads who either played Cork Minor of Junior. Two Underdogs. Brian O'Connell won a Sigerson with Queens and Gerry Murphy captained a Laune Rangers team to an All-Ireland club.

Compare that to the current team and it's not necessarily so impressive! Rich Sull was on the Cork Senior panel until last summer when he walked by choice. He won an All-Ireland Junior from centre back this year. Captain Derry O'Callaghan was a Cork minor midfielder. Former Cork Minor, Junior and Underdog Lyndon is still around. Niall Mac and Alan Gould have gone as far as All-Ireland finals with Cork Vocs. Brian Coughlan is the forward jewel having won a Sigerson with UCC this year as well as Munster U-21 medals and an All-Ireland Junior. The pretender to his crown is Gearoid Finn, who has scored freely all summer despite his tender age. He is currently with the Cork U-17's, pushing for a Minor spot next year.

I used to think our team was talented but these lads may well trump us. The biggest thing we had in our favour was that bond I mentioned. It's been more difficult for this group because it's required two generations to mesh together. The process has been ongoing over the last few years and now they are ready.

A lot of credit is given to Brian Murphy in making this happen. He’s been involved with Gearoid in the under-age successes and would have trained the likes of Mick Sull, Barry and a few more back in 1998-1999. The combination of the two has worked well in challenging the players to go to the next level.

Sunday is Kinsale’s date with destiny. County winning teams are never forgotten. I only regret now that I didn’t back them in January.