Gavin O’Connor looks ahead to the Austin Stacks v Dingle Senior Football Club Championship, semi-final in Austin Stack Park this Sunday…
Mikey Collins in action during last October’s county championship clash between Austin Stacks and Dingle. Photo by Dermot Crean
THE year 2014 will live long in the memory in Connolly Park.
County and Munster titles and a county league which was only added last week, made it truly a vintage year.
However, it could have been a perfect year, but for one fly in the ointment.
Last year, there was one competition Austin Stacks didn’t win and one team that beat them in that competition. This Sunday, they face that team, in that same competition.
Continued below…
Yes, back in May last year, Dingle blitzed a Kieran Donaghy-less Austin Stacks with four goals, to knock them out of the club championship by a scoreline of 4-7 to 1-10.
That was the sole defeat the Rock suffered in 2014.
The two sides would face each other once more, this time in the county championship semi-final, but on this occasion Kieran Donaghy was back in the side. Star gave a man of the match performance and the Stacks cruised to a seven-point victory.
The departures, of Greg Horan, Wayne Guthrie, Pa McCarthy and Darragh O’Brien to the States have been a set back to the Rock.
High flying action last during October’s county championship clash between Austin Stacks and Dingle. Photo by Dermot Crean
Stacks will be without the services of Shane Guthrie, who gave a fine display against Crokes – he will be on soccer duties with Tralee Dynamos, for their Munster Junior Cup final.
They can also add Daniel Bohane (broken collar-bone) to their list of absentees, an injury putting him out for another 11 weeks.
However, since the departure of those key men to America, Shane Carroll has taken on extra responsibility in the team. He gave a grandstand performance in the Crokes game, kicking six points, giving a man of the match performance.
Shane O’Callaghan (seen here during October’s county championship clash between Austin Stacks and Dingle) could play an important role for Stacks this Sunday. Photo by Dermot Crean
The opponents, Dingle, really are the coming side in Kerry football. So much so, that it will be surprising if the young talent they’ve got coming through recently, doesn’t harvest them a county title in the next few years.
Along with back to back Hogan Cup titles for Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, the All-Ireland winning Kerry minor team featured four Dingle men in the starting lineup and three more on the bench.
One of those men, Matthew Flaherty, scored 1-3 in last year’s fixture. He is as adept from corner back to corner forward. On Sunday he will cover every blade of grass and be a real live wire.
Mark O’Connor gave an incredible performance for the Kerry minors on Wednesday night against Cork and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make an impression on the game despite his age.
He had an awful time last year going up against Donaghy, so it will be interesting if they pin him on Donaghy again.
O’Connor’s midfield partner with the Kerry minors last year, Barry O’Sullivan, was on the losing side against Stacks in the county championship, but had fantastic duel with William Kirby in midfield that day.
Added to the abundance of promising young talent, the Rock will have to contend with Paul Geaney who, on his day at this level, can be unplayable. Though he does seem to keep his powder dry for when he’s wearing green and gold.
Looking at this game, Austin Stacks are a real unit. Stephen Stack has a team working together and on the same wavelength, they are dogged defenders and resolute right to the final whistle.
Last year, Dingle really did not cope well at all with the high ball going into Donaghy (who does?).
They decided to just leave one man on him, it remains to be seen if they’ll do that again. One thing is for sure – the plan will stay the same for Stacks.
Verdict – Austin Stacks by 3 points
Throw-in on Sunday is at 3.30pm
