All-Ireland Club Final

Dr Crokes v Corofin

Sunday at 3.45pm

Croke Park

The road to Croke Park is ridiculously long for club teams. Sunday’s clash between Dr Crokes and Corofin will be the final act in a season that effectively started 14 months ago. And, psychologically speaking, the journey to this decisive match began even further back than that for the Lewis Road club. It really all started on the 26th of November 2017.

That was the day that Cork side Nemo Rangers shocked the GAA world by bringing to an abrupt end Crokes’ dream of retaining their All-Ireland title. Defeats like that, when you just don’t turn up, lead to a lot of soul-searching and at the time Pat O’Shea’s players could be forgiven for allowing some self-doubt to creep into their psyche.

As successful as the club had been in Kerry and Munster, particularly since the turn of the century, it took them 25 years to finally get over that line and win their second All-Ireland in 2017. Who was to say that it wouldn’t take another five, or 10, or even 25 years to get back there again? Certain older players might have considered leaving on a high after that victory over Slaughtneil. Had they made a mistake by staying on? And was now the right time to call it a day?

Crokes had an uncomfortably long winter to ruminate on these questions and plenty of rivals hoped against hope that Nemo had exposed a chink in their armour. No one was saying it too loudly but maybe the top club in Kerry were a little bit vulnerable heading into the 2018 season. If Nemo can outplay them like that, why not Dingle, or South Kerry, or Legion, or Rahilly’s?

2018

The season got off to an inauspicious start for the Crokes when they drew 0-9 to 0-9 with Glenbeigh in the opening round of the County League but they went on a rampage thereafter, winning the Club Championship and powering their way to the top Division 1 with string of comprehensive victories.

By the time the County Championship rolled around, Dr Crokes were overwhelming favourites to retain the competition. A few eyebrows were raised, however, when they came mightily close to a Round 1 defeat to rank outsiders St Kieran’s in Killarney. The Black and Amber trailed by four points as the game entered the final quarter but they rallied to register eight of the final 10 scores to break the visitors’ hearts.

All appeared to be back to normal in Round 2 when they held a commanding nine-point lead over Kerins O’Rahilly’s but what happened next threatened to throw their entire season into disarray. Rahilly’s came out of nowhere to score 3-4 in the last 10 minutes and send shockwaves around the county. Crokes weren’t out – they had the safety net of the losers’ round to fall back on – but could they recover from such a traumatic collapse?

Seven days later, they delivered an answer in emphatic fashion. The Killarney side racked up a whopping 3-28 against 14-man An Ghaeltacht in the Park as Tony Brosnan grabbed national headlines by scoring 1-14 (1-10 from play) with zero wides.

The holders were equally dominant in the quarters, defeating crosstown rivals Legion with plenty to spare, and two weeks later they got some revenge when they defeated Rahilly’s by nine points in Tralee.

In the final against Dingle, a late Gavin White goal sealed another Kerry SFC crown for the Crokes, their seventh since 2010, and by this stage they were really rolling.

From Moyle to Mullinalaghta

You can only beat what’s put in front of you but for the Crokes, the 2018 Munster title came just about as easily as a provincial title can come. The Kerry champions defeated Moyle Rovers (Tipperary), St Finbarr’s (Cork) and St Joseph’s Miltown-Malbay (Clare) by an average winning margin of 15.3 points to secure their spot in the All-Ireland semi-final against the champions of Leinster.

Kilmacud of Dublin were expected to advance from that particular side of the draw but plucky Mullinalaghta had other ideas, becoming the first club from Longford to win Leinster with an emotional two-point win in Tullamore.

The whole country was caught up in the Mullinalaghta fairytale and for a brief period in the first half of the semi-final, it appeared as though the Crokes were about to get caught up in it too. In fairness to the Munster champs, they weathered a stormy first half before finding their feet in the second, thanks in part to the excellent David Shaw who filled in for Johnny Buckley in midfield.

Buckley was controversially red-carded in the 21st minute but that decision was subsequently overturned at a hearing, clearing him to play in the All-Ireland final on St Patrick’s Day.

The Decider

So all of that has led us to Sunday and the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Final in Croke Park. Dr Crokes’ opponents are holders Corofin from Galway who will be appearing in their third final in four years.

That unquestionable pedigree has them slight favourites with the bookies and I must admit, I’ve been really impressed with them every time I’ve seen them play. They adopt a fairly positive approach and in Ian Burke and Gary Sice they have two really clever and creative forwards who can cause problems for any defence in the country.

When you consider that Crokes’ defensive frailties have been well documented in recent times, you can certainly see a player of Burke’s calibre getting some joy in the (apocryphal) wide open spaces of Croke Park.

I do, however, think that the Crokes have the better forwards overall and I would be surprised if they didn’t post another decent score between them on Sunday.

In the full forward line, Tony Brosnan, Kieran O’Leary and David Shaw have been in serious form and further out the field, I thought Brian Looney and Gavin O’Shea had really impressive semi-finals. I think it’s fair to say that Micheál Burns wasn’t quite at his electrifying best last time out but there’s no denying that he has become a very important player over the past year or two, and he certainly has the potential to play a key role in the final.

There’s a strong likelihood that the midfield battle will prove decisive. Daithí Casey and Johnny Buckley are undoubtedly two of Dr Crokes’ most influential players and if they can get the upper hand around the middle third and get a steady supply of possession into the hands Brosnan, Leary and Shaw, Crokes will have a great chance of emerging victorious.

Prediction: Dr Crokes by one.

Dr Crokes starters (predicted): 1 Shane Murphy, 2 John Payne, 3 Michael Moloney, 4 Fionn Fitzgerald, 5 David O’Leary, 6 Gavin White, 7 Shane Doolan, 8 Johnny Buckley, 9 Daithí Casey, 10 Micheál Burns, 11 Gavin O'Shea, 12 Brian Looney, 13 David Shaw, 14 Kieran O'Leary, 15 Tony Brosnan. Subs (predicted): Michael Potts, Alan O'Sullivan, Colm Cooper, Eoin Brosnan and Jordan Kiely.

Corofin starters (predicted): 1 Bernard Power, 2 Cathal Silke, 3 Kieran Fitzgerald, 4 Liam Silke, 5 Kieran Molloy, 6 Dylan McHugh, 7 Dylan Wall, 8 Daithí Burke, 9 Ronan Steede, 10 Gary Sice, 11 Mike Farragher, 12 Jason Leonard, 13 Martin Farragher, 14 Ian Burke, 15 Micheál Lundy. Subs (predicted): Gavin Burke, Colin Brady, Conor Cunningham, Ciarán McGrath and Dylan Canney.