AFTER CAPTURING an All-Ireland title in 2009, the Kilmacud Crokes club were confident that more treasures would follow.
They had just defeated Armagh’s Crossmaglen who were a dominant force in club football at the time, winning six All-Irelands between 1997 and 2012. They were the Corofin of their day, and Crokes had just pushed them off the summit with a five-point win in Croke Park.
For the Stillorgan-based side, the sense was that more silverware would arrive over the next few years. That’s certainly what then-Crokes forward — and Longford footballer — Brian Kavanagh was leaning towards in his thinking after kicking two points in that 2009 decider.
But the terrain of club football is often harsh and brutal for those who tread it.
“We thought we’d win another one,” Kavanagh remembers in conversation with The42 ahead of this Sunday’s All-Ireland final between Kilmacud Crokes and Glen of Derry.
Crokes are back in the showpiece after an agonising extra-time defeat to Kilcoo last year.
“Two years later, we were back in an All-Ireland semi-final, and we were pipped at the post by Crossmaglen. Then Crokes sort of fell away for the guts of 10 years.
“It’s a very hard competition to win and even just to get out of Dublin is an absolute struggle. Leinster can be a minefield and you have to be on it every day. You’re never guaranteed to have the same group of players the following year. It’s really cut-throat and that’s why you have to take your hat off to the likes of Corofin who are able to do three-in-a-row and keep going back.”
The 2009 season was Kavanagh’s first campaign with Kilmacud Crokes. He joined the side from his Longford club in Ardagh after earning a full-time teaching position in Dundrum, which is about half a mile from the Crokes grounds.
It was a “whirlwind” year as he recalls, and a major decision that was greeted with support from his friends and family at home. Kavanagh also had a pre-existing link connecting him with the Crokes club which added a nice layer to his transition up to the capital.
“My uncle played for Kilmacud Crokes in the 70s and 80s,” he says taking up the story,
“There’s hundreds of transfers every year and people have been transferring clubs for a long time. In Dublin, St Vincent’s had quite a few at the time, Parnell’s had a few and Ballymun, St Brigid’s and Castleknock.
“People were very supportive. It’s only a game of football and everybody wished me the best. My family and friends were going to the games and getting to know the Crokes supporters.
“Maybe a few of the Dublin clubs were getting more of the media attention but there’s always players moving around the country for work and different reasons.”
Regardless of the understandable reasons behind a player’s transfer to another side, the ‘super club’ narratives continue to endure for teams like Crokes. Their acquisition of Galway’s Shane Walsh this earlier this year saw that topic flare up once more, as talented players from rural clubs moving to larger Dublin sides.
The club’s large membership figure of over 5,000 people is often mentioned in such discussions. Kavanagh finished playing with the Crokes and Longford footballers in 2018 but continues to play a key role with his club as manager of the senior side’s second team. He can verify that it’s not as simple as the theories suggest.
“Logistically, it’s very challenging for everyone,” he says, while remarking on the difficulties involved with operating such a huge volume of people. “There is a fall-off rate in Crokes and a lot of clubs. When you hear 5,000, that’s very heavily loaded towards the children groups. It’s a huge challenge trying to keep them interested.
“And there are other clubs with thousands of members who maybe haven’t had the success as much as Crokes, but that’s down to the volunteers and people in the club who are willing to give up their Saturday mornings to train these lads and try to find a pitch.
“It’s a cycle and in a few years, it might be another club who has its time, and then time moves on to someone else. But at the moment, Crokes are reaping the benefits in hurling and football and it’s great to see.”
Kavanagh has shared a dressing-room with several players in the current Crokes crop. He won an All-Ireland with star defender Rory O’Carroll, and has watched Paul Mannion blossom from a talented teenager who was veering more towards soccer, to one of the finest forwards in Gaelic football. Of course, Mannion has been sidelined with injury over the last few months, but there is some hope that he could play a part in Sunday’s final.
“I remember Paul when he was in secondary school, he was more focused on soccer and he was an excellent soccer player. And then he transferred his attention towards GAA, and was with the Dublin U21s. It sort of took off for him for a few years.
“He just developed into a different animal. He was unstoppable. His pace is electric and once he gets a foot ahead of you, he’s gone and there’s no catching him.
“The first team are very tight lipped and I know he’s been back doing a bit of running, but whether he’s up for playing in an All-Ireland final, I’m not too sure.”
Kavanagh has sporting interests elsewhere this weekend. On Saturday, Longford will play in the O’Byrne Cup final against Louth in their home pitch at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park. The integrity of the competition has been the main talking point in advance of the final, on account of teams withdrawing from fixtures.
Kavanagh explains that this is a hectic time of the year for inter-county players, particularly players who are competing in the Sigerson Cup competition. But he believes that teams should still be able to play all of their pre-season games by exploring the depths of their panels.
“The squads are huge at this time of the year and what sort of message does it send to the other members of the squad when a team pulls out because they don’t have their Sigerson players? Surely, there’s other players there who want to put their hand up and want to give it a go.
“And if they’re asked to play slightly out of position, they’ll gladly do it to take their opportunity with the county team.
“It has been mooted to go to knockout down the line. Once Louth pulled out and they weren’t punished, it just opened the floodgates for everyone to pull out then. The Leinster Council will have to hold their hands up there a small bit.
“I think it is relevant because it’s very hard to beat momentum and I love the way that Paddy Christie and Longford have approached it this year. They’re in the final now and the league is starting in a couple of weeks.
“It’s really tough in Division 3 this year and they need to hit the ground running.”
All going well, Kavanagh will have two triumphs to celebrate this weekend. Longford last lifted the O’Byrne Cup in 2020 while Kilmacud Crokes will be hoping to avenge the ghosts of last year’s loss to Kilcoo. 14 years is a long time to be waiting.
They will be facing Ulster opposition again on Sunday, and Kavanagh doesn’t expect the task will be any easier this time around.
“I have huge time for [Glen manager] Malachy O’Rourke and what he did for Monaghan. He turns everything to gold and he’s brought that club from castaways to beating the reigning All-Ireland champions. They’re on an upward trajectory and they will provide the toughest opposition for Crokes. They’re very organised and they’ll have a plan in place.”
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