FRIENDSHIPS, club loyalties and even family ties will be put aside tomorrow when Kilkenny CBS and St Kieran’s meet in the all-Kilkenny Masita Croke Cup final.
Nowlan Park hosts the clash between the two Noreside rivals and it’s hard to beat the rivalry that will exist between the Mullen brothers, Kevin and Darren,
Kevin, who once captained a juvenile St Kieran’s team to honours, is now on the CBS squad, while his brother Darren is a key member of the St Kieran’s defence and has been in great form so far this season.
The duo are both members of the Ballyhale Shamrocks club. There’s several clubs who have players on both sides like Clara, John Lockes, O’Loughlin Gaels and James Stephens. The teams met last month in the Leinster colleges hurling final with Kilkenny CBS triumphing by 2-13 to 0-13.
“An occasion like this throws up all sorts of scenarios,” admits St Kieran’s manager Liam Smith. “And that’s why we have a situation like the Mullens playing on opposite sides of the fence.
“We also have a couple of situations where best friends will end up marking each other. That’s the beauty of this competition and the fact that two Kilkenny teams are going so strong.”
Smith played for ‘Kieran’s in his own time and admits that while CBS often put it up to them, the traditonal giants would frequently have been confident of winning.
“That’s all changed now,” he says. “CBS are on a fine run. They have some great players and a huge amount of work has been invested.”
Niall Tyrrell, Kilkenny CBS manager, and reckons his school is capitalising on great work being done by the Kilkenny clubs in harnessing such great youthful talent.
“A huge effort has gone in all over the county,” he notes. “Lads come here and they want to play hurling. There are over 100 youngsters togged out trying to make the U14 and U14 and a half teams. Our job is to keep them interested until they leave school.”
Smith says there is a similar approach at ‘Kieran’s. “Obviously, their education is a massive thing and we’d be concerned about that. With all that’s going on in the players’ lives we did an internal survey here a while back and thankfully the results showed that lads were over-achieving academically. T
“hat’s all part of it too. So is developing players from clubs of all sizes. Windgap have a player on our first, for instance, team and I think it’s the first time in 17 years that someone from there has been on the ‘Kieran’s side.”
A crowd of almost 5,000 is expected tomorrow and Tyrell says the big day is there to be enjoyed.
