Gavin O’Connor looks ahead to this evening’s Acorn Life Kerry U21 County Championship, Kerins O’Rahilly’s v East Kerry, Castleisland, 6.30pm…
KERINS O’RAHILLY’S will attempt to win their first U21 County Championship in the club’s long and storied history.
The competition is notoriously difficult to win for club sides and it’s no different this evening in Castleisland when they face a fancied East Kerry side, that features a number of Kerry U21 players including Legion’s Conor Keane and the pick of seven clubs in the district.
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But Strand Road are not without their inter-county men either – they can draw upon one of last year’s Kerry minor All-Ireland winners Cormac Coffey and one of the brightest young talents in the county, Jack Savage.
The buzz has been gradually building around Strand Road since they easily dispatched of John Mitchels in the semi-final by 13 points. The blue army is expected to travel in numbers for this final which could rank as one of the great achievements for the club.
The road to the final has been an impressive one, getting off to as good a start as you can imagine with a first round away victory against Dr Crokes by 2-12 to 1-8.
Then followed wins against Kilcummin/Rathmore – never an easy opponent – and that emphatic Tralee derby victory over Mitchels.
East Kerry’s path to the final has been very impressive. First they negotiated past fellow divisional unit South Kerry, followed by two hammerings against An Ghaeltacht and Kenmare District.
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So far, O’Rahilly’s have shown their strength around midfield with Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Cian Sayers and Gavin O’Brien setting up Jack Savage to dictate play and supply the inside forwards with ball and nab a few scores for himself also. Manager, Ray Walsh, can also report a clean bill of health for the panel.
There’s no doubt about it, O’Rahilly’s, will be going into this match as underdogs. East Kerry, with their enormous pick makes the game seven clubs against one club. But in a one-off game anything is possible. Ray Walsh and his charges will fear nothing and with the reward so great, it would mean a whole lot more for a club side.