Come on the Feale Rangers "Carpe Diem"

John Flaherty

At the start of the year few, if any would have given the Feale Rangers a snowballs chance in hell of reaching the county final. Such was the record of both North Kerry teams over the past few years that the North Kerry board had stepped in this year and pro- posed an amalgamation of Feale and Shannon Rangers. This was put to the clubs; one was in agreement, one was opposed. Isn't it ironic that the Feale Rangers who were ameniable to the suggestion of amalgamation are now in the county final, while the Shannon Rangers, who opposed it have long since made their exit!

What brought about this dramatic improvement in the fortunes of the Feale Rangers? Beyond a shadow of a doubt it was the appointment of Jerome Stack as trainer and Johnny Mulvihill and Christy Kileen as his co-selectors. This triumvirate galvanised the team. They brought to it organisation, passion, commitment and a will to win which, had been sadly lacking for many years and as a result have reached their first final since 1999 where they will face the might of a South Kerry team going for 4 in a row.

Can they succeed?
What chance have they got?

In the opinion of most experts, pundits and sports writers, not to mention the sport- ing public, the consensus would be that they have little or no chance. South Kerry are red hot favourites and the men from the Feale are rank outsiders. Their respective recent records would certainly endorse the view that South Kerry will romp home and that the Feale Rangers have little or no chance.

Finals, however are not won by experts, sports writers, fans or bookmakers; they are won by men, footballers of skill and passion and the Feale Rangers have those in abundance.

Much capital is made of the fact that most of the South Kerrymen have worn the county jersey at some level, but so have most of the Feale Rangers. 4 hold All- Ireland senior medals and all but two. have represented Kerry at either minor, under-21 or junior. South Kerry's 3 titles in a row and the Feale Ranger's famine since 1980 are offered as further reasons for a South Kerry win. The past is history however, and will have no bearing on the destination of this year's title, which will be decided next Sunday by whichever team performs best on the day. Hence the sub-title of this article "Carpe Diem", "Seize the Day".

This final, like any other final, is a once off, winner take-all game. What has gone before does not matter, what will happen between these teams in the future is of no consequence. What will decide this game is how 15 men from Fealeside will perform in 15 man to man contests with 15 South Kerrymen. So the Feale Rangers must take to the field fired up with a passion, a pride, a hunger and a will to win that must not admit of the possibility of defeat; they must not let the occasion get to them but channel their nervousness into an explosion of adrenaline that will enable them to play the game of their lives. What better day to do it than in the county football final in the premier football county in Ireland and what better reasons than the ending of a 27 year famine and the possibility of seeing another Feale Rangers man captain Kerry to All-Ireland glory like Tim Kennelly and Jimmy Deenihan.

So Feale Rangers, "Carpe Diem", seize the day and grab this opportunity to restore pride in North Kerry football and emulate the great men of the past who brought this title home to North Kerry in 1978 and 1980.