*Darragh Sexton of Kilmurry Ibrickane. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
THERE’S an element of transition about Kilmurry Ibrickane with a spate of retirements but the drive to succeed in the heat of championship is still as strong.
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Kilmurry Ibrickane Fact File
Management: David Egan (manager), Evan Talty (coach), Kevin Sexton (selector), Vincent Talty (selector), Lawrence Murray (S&C).
Captain: Dermot Coughlan
Key player: Dermot Coughlan
One to watch: Leo Switzer
Fresh blood: Leo Switzer, Cillian Darcy
Departures Gate: Mark Killeen (retired), Andrew Shannon (emigrated), Martin McMahon (retired), Keelan Sexton (transferred), Michael O’Dwyer (retired), Aidan McCarthy, Niall Hickey (retired), Michael Comber (J1)
Treatment table: No injuries.
Titles won: 16 (1933, 1935, 1936, 1939 as Quilty, 1963, 1966, 1993, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2020.
Last year’s run: Reached the county final but defeated by seven points to Éire Óg
Schedule of games:
Round 1 vs St Joseph’s Miltown on Saturday July 19th in Cooraclare at 19:00
Round 2 vs St Breckan’s on Friday August 1st in Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay at 19:00
Round 3 vs Wolfe Tones on Sunday August 17th in Lissycasey at 14:00
Championship power ranking (1=weak/unlikely winners, 10=strong contenders): 8
Retirements, transfers and travels have Kilmurry Ibrickane far from full strength as they enter the championship arena this weekend.
Martin McMahon, Mark Killeen, Michael O’Dwyer and Niall Hickey have all called time on their senior careers with the Bricks while Keelan Sexton has transferred to Na Fianna in Dublin, Andrew Shannon has emigrated to Australia, Aidan McCarthy is focusing purely on Inagh/Kilnamona’s crusade to try lift the Canon Hamilton. Daniel Walsh won’t be back from America until next month and it is hoped Ciaran Morrissey will also return to the fray in the coming weeks.
Such a picture was not expected for David Egan when he returned for his second season in charge of Kilmurry Ibrickane. “I wasn’t expecting it to be honest, the older lads retiring okay I wasn’t overly surprised but Keelan’s transfer, nobody saw it coming but nobody can argue the point, his life is in Dublin, I don’t think it’s the last time he play with Kilmurry Ibrickane but his life with work and education is in Dublin at this moment in time, it is very hard to come down twice a week for football, it’s very hard to settle and make a life in Dublin while you’re doing that”.
Changing faces put extra importance on the Cusack Cup, the former Offaly footballer noted. “I was lucky there’s a good underage structure and plenty of good lads coming along, most of the lads we’ve been bedding in have played underage for the county so they are well able to play football. The big challenge is to integrate them in and build a team around that. The Cusack Cup was relatively successful, guys have settled into the role and are gelling effectively. We are predominantly a young squad now, we had eleven U21s in our squad versus Ennistymon”.
Experience levels may have dropped but the aspirations to succeed are still as strong, Egan felt. “I wouldn’t say our championship ambitions have been altered, any team with the Kilmurry Ibrickane jersey is going to be aiming high, the ambition is within the players whether you’re eighty or Shane Hickey at 38, the ambition is always there and I don’t think that will ever change”.
Also remaining strong is the expectation to deliver and The Bricks are certainly eying up taking one of the quarter-final spots from Group 3. “One thing I do is take it game by game, the focus is Miltown but the ambition is to get out of the group. We need to go into the game sharp, bring a performance and apply that for St Breckan’s and Wolfe Tones too. Miltown are in transition too, a lot of teams are looking around but we are where we are. Doora/Barefield were going very well in the Cusack Cup and they could be one of the surprise teams in the championship”.
Physicality was the big difference between them and Éire Óg in last year’s 1-10 0-6 county final loss, he reflected. “We lacked a small bit of physicality in the final. One of the big things was we seemed to put our heads down if things went wrong, we’ve worked hard on staying in focus and sticking to what we’re good at”.
Minds are that extra bit focus given it is neighbours St Joseph’s Miltown they meet on Saturday evening. “The last two weeks have really sharpened up, with the county lads coming back there has been a big pick-up in the standard of training, there has been a very competitive edge with lads competing for places”.
