Resurgent Rangers are worthy champions

Thursday November 22 2007

FEALE RANGERS 1-4 SOUTH KERRY 0-6

"WE will take it one game at a time but our ultimate aim will be to win the county championship. It will be a game-by-game process and we will always focus on the game at hand but the county final will be the big one.

"The county championship is a great competition but maybe the people in North Kerry need to fall in love with it again. This could be the year that it happens."

Little did Feale Rangers’ Christy Killeen know at the time, when speaking to The Kingdom in early May, how true his assessment of the 2007 championship would be. It was eerily true.

The North Kerry side certainly took it one game at a time, especially after they lost their first round game to Mid Kerry, way back in May.

Who would have thought after that 2-12 to 1-9 defeat that, six months later, they would be hailed as the best team in Kerry?

And as for people in the north of the county falling back in love with the Bishop Moynihan Cup, it’s mission accomplished following Rangers’ 1-4 to 0-6 victory over South Kerry in the county final.

In comparison to the last few years, this was a championship that definitely came up on our blindside.

There was more than the usual number of shock results - South Kerry’s loss and An Ghaeltacht’s defeat spring to mind. But when you see that Feale Rangers knocked both of these giants out, it’s easy to determine that they were worthy winners.

Captained by Eamon Fitz-maurice, Rangers were immense at the tail-end of the season, as the talents of Paul Galvin, Noel Kennelly, Anthony Maher, Kieran Quirke, Brendan Guiney and the rest, powered the divisional side to their third ever title.

27 years was a long time to wait for a senior championship triumph so North Kerry were well overdue a county title, and great credit has to go to the champions’ management team of Johnny Mulvihill, John Dorgan and Christy Killeen.

For South Kerry, it’s an entirely different story as they saw their hopes of four-in-a-row disappear in that gloomy November day in Tralee.

So much of this season had been built around Pat McCrohan side’s bid for history and everyone, except Feale Rangers, had them backed for glory. That’s why their one-point defeat was such a shock.

But when South Kerry’s form over the season is examined, bar their 1-16 to 1-10 trouncing of the Crokes in July and their 1-18 to 0-5 hammering of Mid Kerry (who just caved in, it must be added) in October, it was very mediocre and not the stuff of champions.

Mid Kerry should have beaten South Kerry in either of the first two games but they didn’t take their chances. The difference is that Feale Rangers did.

Staying with Mid Kerry, what does James Sheehan’s side have to do to win a county championship? Just like last year they were the best team to watch in the competition, and they were easily the draw specialists - drawing a whopping four times.

In total, they played eight games, losing just one, so that just shows how tough it was on Kieran Foley and his team mates. This team certainly has a county title in them and surely it’s only a matter of time before they deliver on their promise.

Talking about teams with potential, what happened to An Ghaeltacht and Dr Crokes this season?

These were two of the big favourites before the championship and while John Galvin’s Crokes suffered at the feet of South Kerry (wasn’t a shock), the men from the west were stunned by Feale Rangers, losing 1-6 to 0-10.

It was one of many results that made this season’s championship a campaign packed full of shocks.

One of the other main surprises came at the other end of the spectrum came in the shape of Milltown/Castlemaine’s relegation, along with losing their senior status.

In the relegation final, the Mid Kerry side were fancied to be too strong for division three outfit, John Mitchels, but the great Tralee club showed there is still life in them, winning 1-12 to 0-11.

Apart from Mitchels, the only other team smiling after this result was Mid Kerry as Milltown/Castlemaine’s players can now be selected on the divisional side next season. This will certainly add to their strength.

In keeping with shocks, what about Rathmore’s involvement with the relegation play-offs, rather than the third round? John Fintan Daly didn’t take over the East Kerry club to be fighting off relegation.

If this was an end of term report card, it would read: Can and must do better. The O’Donoghue Cup finalists will second that.

Austin Stacks are another proud club side who slipped badly this year in a championship that was dominated by divisional sides - namely South Kerry, Mid Kerry and the champs, Feale Rangers, while there are signs of a real resurgence in East Kerry.

It’s been a season where the clubs of Kerry have suffered, though that can’t be said about Kilcummin who are in the middle of a wonderful Munster club championship voyage.

The last club team left standing in the championship, Sean Walsh’s men are flying the Kerry flag proudly.

For the rest of the sides, it was a case of ‘more of the same’ but at least a new lie has been injected back into the competition. Feale Rangers’ win has shown other sides that David can still slay Goliath and that will make for a very interesting 2008 championship.