KERINS O’RAHILLYS ARE quickly becoming experts at knowing when to declare a total and drop back to defend it.
They didn’t score from the 47th minute of Saturday’s Munster football final against Newcastle West until the final whistle blew with them clinging onto a one-point lead.
It was the same story in the semi-final against Éire Óg: no score from the 48th minute on, one point in it when the music stopped.
Even in their Kerry Club final against Templenoe, they didn’t score after the 51st minute and held on to win by the minimum.
“It’s our third one-point win in-a-row but, you know what, I think it says a lot about the group,” said manager William Harmon.
“It says a lot about their character and their togetherness and willingness to get over the line. Whether we won by one point or 10, I’ll take it every day.
“It was very similar in the Club final against Templenoe when I don’t think we scored in the last 12 minutes. I won’t even go into the Éire Óg game.
“When it comes to major finals, you just want to get over the line. The lads were probably thinking they (Newcastle West) were going to have to score four or five points. If they didn’t get a goal, could they score that? We felt we could hold out if we got our hands on the ball.
“We just made one or two silly errors that kept the momentum their way but Dave Moran and Tommy (Walsh) just caught some unbelievable ball in the last few minutes when we needed it. It’s a point win, that’s what the records say, and we’re delighted with that.
“It’s huge. There are a lot of people there and you could see the joy on their faces afterwards. For the club and the community, it’s huge. They have been in a lot of finals where they have come out the wrong side of close, tough battles but today it’s their time, which is fantastic.”
When the Strand Road side finished their scoring, they led by four, 2-6 to 1-5. They held that lead for 12 minutes, no score conceded, until two quickfire Eoin Hurley frees and an Aaron Neville point brought it back to the minimum.
Jack Savage’s second yellow card saw them play out stoppage time with 14 men but Newcastle West couldn’t win that final kick out they needed to get a chance to level.
The Limerick champions led at half-time but Harmon was encouraged by his side staying in touch despite underperforming in that first half.
“It was 0-4 to 0-3 so they weren’t damaging on the other side. We weren’t playing well at the time but we were only down a point, so we said if we could up the gears a small bit, get a bit more from our forward play, we could get a bit of joy. The fact they weren’t pushing away from us and we weren’t playing well, I think that was key.”
Strand Road’s jet-set trio of Savage, Cormac Coffey, and Gavin O’Brien were key players in their victory after flying back from Dubai and New York for the final.
“It shows the commitment,” said Harmon. “We made this commitment back in December. We said if we go further – we didn’t expect to get to a Munster final – and do well the lads committed to coming back. Sometimes, when you make that commitment earlier, it’s a lot easier. There’s no issue. They love their club and they will do anything to get that success and we need everyone.”
Kilmacud Crokes next up will be a step up in class but Harmon won’t rush into worrying about that challenge.
“I know the opposition we are facing are a serious outfit but for us, it’s about the present and enjoying this. It doesn’t come around too often so we’re just going to get our heads down and enjoy this as a group. We’ll focus on the next task when the right time comes.”
In the opposite dressing room, Newcastle West manager Jimmy Lee said his young group of players will return even better having come up just short in their first Munster final for 35 years.
“They’re as good a group of young fellas as I’ve met. I’m extremely proud of them. They should be proud of themselves, their families should be proud of them, the club is proud of them, and the town is proud of them. They’ve gone on a massive journey. It’s hard to take but it’s fine margins.
“One thing I’m not going to do is be critical of the players. I can’t ask any more of them lads. I had a 17-year-old, an 18-year-old, a 20-year-old, a 21-year-old. To show the character they showed as a young bunch of lads says more about them than it does about myself.
“They never threw in the towel. They kept going to the bitter end. You’d have to stand up and admire them for that.”