THERE AREN’T MANY people who have appearances in both Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium on their sporting CV. Now Mark Keane is 90 minutes away from adding his name to that elite list.

This afternoon Keane leads Carew Park of Limerick deep into enemy territory to take on reigning champions Sheriff YC in the semi-final of this year’s FAI Junior Cup.

Up against one of the country’s best Carew are “massive underdogs” by Keane’s own admission, but this is a man well used to the heat of cup competition. A man who knows how to get the job done.

As a youngster he was one of the country’s bright young hurling talents, starring in a Limerick U21 squad still regarded as one of the most exciting underage teams in recent memory; for three straight years, from 2000 to 2002, they were All-Ireland champions.

Their third and final win was the most impressive of all, a ruthless dismantling of a good Galway side that featured Fergal Moore, Tony Óg Regan and Damien Hayes among others. Limerick won by 18 points, 1-6 coming from the stick of Keane.

His progression to the county’s seniors was a natural one but by his own admission, with the three medals in his back pocket, the “extra-curricular activities” began to take priority. “My ability hadn’t changed,” he says, but management weren’t happy — and neither was he.

Keane in action in that 2002 final against Galway (©INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan)

“The record speaks for itself. We had an unbelievable three years. I was 19, 20, 21 and I was winning All-Ireland medals. I can only speak for myself but that drive to keep going, was it at the height that it should have been at?

“Any time I committed myself to team I was nearly always getting into the first 15, or the first sub used anyway. If I felt I was going to be sitting on the sideline for six months, I couldn’t do that.

Don’t get me wrong, it was my off-the-field stuff that put an end to it. I played hard both ways — I played hard on the field and I played hard off it.

Now 32, married with family, and doing his level-best to finish up the day job as an electrician in time to make it to training, Keane is back with Carew and skippering the club to one of its best-ever seasons. In February they won the Tuohy Cup, their first trophy in 12 years. As things stand they are four points clear at the top of the Limerick Premier Division with Pike Rovers, who play last year’s beaten finalists Kilbarrack United in the other semi tomorrow, hovering ominously close.

And now the final four of the FAI Junior Cup, 90 minutes away from the final which which this year will be held before the Ireland v Georgia international friendly on 2 June. They couldn’t have asked for a harder draw but Keane and Carew won’t be dictated to by their opponents’ class.

“Sheriff have quality all over the field so we’ll be massive underdogs. I wouldn’t say there’s pressure on them because they know how to deal with pressure but there’s a huge onus on them being the home team to win the tie.

“A lot of people outside our own club wouldn’t give us any hope at all going up there. It all depends on our lads and will it play in their heads? That’s a big thing.

We have players that have FAI medals, we have players that have played League of Ireland, we have players that will give you 1000%. It’s the man that will chase the dead-ball down into the corner flag that might stop a goal or create a goal for us, that man is as important as the player who puts the ball in the net.

We’re going out to impose our own game rather than to try and stifle their game.

For Keane his own little piece of history beckons if Carew can make it to the Aviva Stadium but more importantly, as he tries to drive a squad brimming with commitment on to even bigger and better things, he’s found that hunger again.

“There’s great camaraderie in the club, there’s a good buzz. It’s very much given me a new lease of life personally. I’ve something to drive forward for again. It’s given me a new want, a new goal.

“If someone said to me at the start of the season that we’re going to be in an FAI semi-final, that we’re going to be top of the league in Limerick, that we’re going to have a cup medal and we’re going to be still playing for other cups, I’d have them committed. Most Limerick people would as well.”

FAI Junior Cup semi-finals

Saturday 27th April 2013

Sherriff YC v Carew Park (Frank Cooke Park, Dublin 9, 2pm)

Sunday 28th April 2013

Kilbarrack United v Pike Rovers (AUL Complex, Clonshaugh, 2.30pm)