Can Cill na Martra end Kerry's dominance in the Munster club intermediate football championship?

BY SEÁN HOLLAND

CILL na Martra is the latest Cork club looking to break Kerry’s grip on the Munster football intermediate club championship.

This competition has been in place since 2003 and of the 19 titles that have been up for grabs, Kerry have won 15 with Cork winning the other four. Interestingly, the first three titles were all won by West Cork clubs – Ilen Rovers (2003), and Carbery Rangers (2004 and ’05). Since then, it’s been total domination by the clubs from the Kingdom with only Clyda Rovers (2013) disrupting the Kerry supremacy of this championship.

Cill na Martra manager John Evans, himself a Kerryman, highlighted the fact and how his team will be up against it due to the disparity in the grades between the two counties. Cork’s intermediate champions emerge from the third-tier competition here, with both the premier senior and senior A having 12 teams each, whereas in Kerry there are only eight senior clubs and the next grade is intermediate.

‘Very simply, it’s just the proof in the pudding, the 25th-best team in Cork is playing the ninth-best team in Kerry,’ explained Evans.

The Muskerry men will face newly-crowned Kerry intermediate champions Milltown-Castlemaine in the semi-final on Sunday in Cill na Martra, with a throw-in at 1.30pm. Evans noted that the quality of opposition from Kerry will be a lot tougher to what they faced in the quarter-final stage.

‘No disrespect to Kilmihill, but you’re looking at a much higher standard coming out of Kerry,’ Evans noted.

‘In the last ten years, there’s only been one winner of this competition from Cork. It’s been Kerry, Kerry, Kerry all the way since. That shows you the standard that’s coming out of intermediate there is much higher than what’s coming out of Cork but again that’s down to grading. For instance, we played Kanturk last year and they beat us after extra time and then they played Rathmore in Munster and they got blown off the field.’

Looking ahead to the provincial semi-final, Evans speaks very highly of the side that downed David Clifford’s Fossa last weekend. Evans’ own club Laune Rangers come from the same division as the Kerry champions so the Cill na Martra boss knows they have quality all over the field.

‘They’ll take stopping everywhere. They have a great team throughout. Dominant in midfield, and their backs are extremely solid which is the hallmark of any good team. Their forwards then, you’ve the likes of Éanna O’Connor, Brendan Casey, and Cillian Burke who are all so impressive,’ explained Evans.

The Cill na Martra boss attended the Kerry intermediate final, and saw up close the brilliance of Footballer of the Year David Clifford but he pointed out Milltown-Castlemaine’s ability to get over the line.

‘David Clifford and Fossa were fantastic, it wasn’t until very late when they kicked their first wide. They were so clinical, and David was outstanding but still Milltown-Castlemaine found a way. Just when you thought Fossa would kick on with a big strong breeze behind them in the second half, they just found a way to win and that’s the sign of champions. So, we know what’s ahead of us,’ he said.