Five months after the AIB club championship was launched under the suitably simple tagline “the toughest” things are not getting any easier – even for a club like Dr Crokes. If anything the Kerry champions go into tomorrow’s semi-final against Castlebar Mitchells wondering what else can they give.
Because having lost the last two semi-finals – to Ballymun Kickhams, last year, and great rivals Crossmaglen in 2012 – and also losing the 2007 final replay, again to Crossmaglen, winning this one must feel like the only option. Easier said than done, of course. They've now won four Kerry titles back-to-back, and three Munster titles too, yet winning the title outright has remained beyond this particular team.
1992 triumph
Dr Crokes did win the All-Ireland in 1992, when an eight-year-old Colm "Gooch" Cooper found himself at the centre of all the team photos as their unofficial mascot. This time, Cooper is taking it all deadly serious, admitting at the start of the campaign he was treating 2014 as "the last go". Now 30, Cooper may be decorated with four All-Ireland championship titles and four National League medals, seven Munster medals, and eight All Stars, but the one medal that eludes may well be the one he'd prize the most.
If all this sounds like a bit of an obsession then it probably is, although another veteran of the team – 33 year-old Eoin Brosnan – doesn't put it that way. Like Cooper, Brosnan has seen his chances for club glory come and go, and having retired from the Kerry team at the end of last summer, it's even harder for him to look beyond 2014. "Well I wouldn't say it's an obsession," says Brosnan, "but it's certainly a goal. I suppose you could talk about a lot of other teams who set out with a goal to win an All-Ireland, or a provincial championship, or whatever.
"We do set out with certain goals too, the first one is to win the county title, then a provincial title, then try to win the All-Ireland. We've failed on the latter thus far. But we think we've done a few things a bit differently this year, and we'd also be hoping we'll get the benefits of our experience over the last couple of years", and be able to bring something different to the table this time."
'Something different'
What Brosnan means by "something different" remains to be seen – although they have been criticised in the past for an over-reliance on Cooper, especially when it comes to orchestrating scores. They were also given a real scare in the Munster final against rank outsiders from Clare, Cratloe, who were in a winning position in the dying moments before midfielder Johnny Buckley saved Dr Crokes their necks.
Yet that narrow escape may well be explained by the notion Dr Crokes were deliberately aiming to peak later in the season, ideally on St Patrick’s Day.
Younger players
Brosnan also points to the arrival of younger players this season, while Mike Moloney and Shane Doolan came back on board full-time. So, instead of the team effectively picking itself, there has been more competition to pick from. "We've also been lucky enough in that a lot of our players have broken into the Kerry set-up. The likes of Fionn Fitzgerald had a super year last year. Johnny Buckley had a super year, and Dáithí Casey was involved a few years ago.
“I remember too everyone had a bit of a review after the Ballymun game last year, because we were so disappointed after that. One of the things felt was players were absolutely shattered come the Christmas. The other thing was that Ballymun blew us away in the physical stakes. The management really took that on board.
“They brought in Pat Flanagan (former fitness trainer with Kerry), and we’ve done a lot more strength and conditioning over the last year, and we’d be hoping we’re bearing the fruits of it. The other thing is that there was no over-training in the autumn, and early winter. We were given weeks off where we barely put on boots at all. So after Christmas I know this year fellas felt a lot fresher. I remember even during that time we did a few training sessions down on Rossbeigh strand, just to stay as fresh as possible. Again we’d be hoping to bear the fruits of that.”
What Brosnan didn’t emphasise was the hurt that must still cut deeply from the last two years, and what surely has toughened them up more than anything. Tomorrow will tell.
