Rangers could feel heat in Mid Kerry

Thursday May 10 2007

ONE of the harder first round ties to make a call on and certainly this has the makings of a tough and tense battle, pitting two seemingly well matched divisional sides against each other.Mid Kerry were the surprise package of last year’s championship, going to the semi-final and giving Dr Crokes a fair run for their money after beating An Ghaeltacht in a cracking quarter-final. Beset by internal problems in the previous couple of years, Mid Kerry really got their act together last year and played an exciting brand of football.

Feale Rangers had a mixed championship in 2006, losing to a goal happy St Brendans, before bouncing back for a well-earned win over West Kerry. Alas, they ran into and were run over by a South Kerry team starting the defence of their title, thus ending their participation in the competition.

This year, though, they are strengthened by virtue of Listowel Emmets rejoing the divisional set-up, while there will be plenty of enthusiasm from the Duagh contingent, who went all the way to the All-Ireland Junior Club final in March. And new manager Jerome Stack (Listowel) should have an even more influential Eamonn Fitzmaurice in his ranks after the Finuge man retired from the inter-county scene and will focus all his energies with club and division now.

Of course, Feale Rangers will revolve around Paul Galvin – always an influential player on the pitch – while Moyvane always lend a couple of tenacious players to the mix. Throw in the likes of Brendan Guiney, Noel Kennelly, Maurice Whelan and Brian Scanlon from Emmets and suddenly Feale Rangers look capable of doing what Mid Kerry did last year.

In Darran and Sean O’Sullivan, Mid Kerry possibly have the better scoring threat, but any North Kerry side generally prove a tough nut to crack defensively, so this one could be a real battle. As with all divisional sides, it generally comes down to which team has done the better preparatory work. Under new management, it remains to be seen how settled Feale Rangers are at this stage of the year and given that Mid Kerry might just carry a little of last year’s positivity into Sunday’s fixture in Killorglin, last year’s semi-finalists get a tentative nod to advance straight to the last 16.

Verdict: Mid Kerry