*Colm O’Brien. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
WITH only one victory under their belts in 2024 and that an ultimately fruitless last-ditch attempt to stave off relegation from the Cusack Cup, St Breckan’s will inevitably have a greater emphasis on this Friday’s opening senior championship tie more than most.
Remarkably, off the back of reaching a first senior decider in 27 years last October allied to also contesting the Cusack Cup and Under 21A Finals, St Breckan’s were expected to be competing for their third successive top flight league decider rather than spiral through the relegation trapdoor but manager Declan O’Keeffe is hoping that the return of their county senior quintet can stop the rot this weekend.
He told The Clare Echo, “There’s no point saying otherwise, we were disappointed with the league. Look, we were down the five county lads and had a few more in America and there were games there where we were minus nine or ten of last year’s county final team so no team could not be hugely affected by that. Having said that, it made us blood more players and look at others so we got plenty of that over the course of those seven matches and I must say that we were kind of unfortunate to actually go down as we lost three or four games by the minimum margin of one or two points which could has easily gone the other way.
“But they didn’t and while it’s not the end of the world, at the same time it was disappointing as where I come from [Kerry], you’d always like to be playing Division 1 football and we kind of feel that it’s a good springboard for developing young players to be playing against the best. Look, I suppose if you take Cratloe, they are winning championships from Division 3 so that’s the other side of the coin”.
With Alan Sweeney, Joe McGann, Jamie Stack, Cian Burke and Tristan O’Callaghan all part of Mark Fitzgerald’s new-look Banner side this year, O’Keeffe, an All-Ireland winner with Kerry himself, feels that their additional exposure to inter-county can only be beneficial for the club. “I’d always be pro fellas moving onto the next level. I think as a footballer, it should be everyone’s dream to play with their county. It was great to see the lads get an opportunity and while some of them didn’t get a lot of ball time, the likes of Jamie [Stack] and Cian [Burke] did get minutes so that can only be good for their development and confidence and you’d be hoping that that experience would stand to them having been given a taste of a different level of strength and conditioning and coaching.
“That can only help our cause as we are in a very competitive group but also a very interesting one. From our point of view, I think we’ve drawn St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield and Corofin for the last two years so they will certainly be out for retribution for the last couple of years and we’re under no illusions as to the task that’s ahead of us. Doora/Barefield drew with Éire Óg in last year’s quarter-final and looking at that, people might have said that it was a one-off but there’s no way it was a one-off. They are a young team with loads of pace and have been very well coached. Donagh [Vaughan] has brought in good coaches there over the last couple of years and they’ve changed the way they’re playing as well so I’m looking forward to a very tough battle on Friday night.”
A former St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield player who contested two senior finals with the Parish, O’Keeffe knows more than most about his opponents but at the same time is cautiously not putting all his eggs in the first-round basket. “Like every group situation, if you can get off to a good start it’s half the battle so obviously we’ll be going all out to win on Friday night but on the flip side I know that Doora/Barefield will be thinking the same way and if they can hit the heights of their last game last year, they will be very difficult to stop”.
Management: Declan O’Keeffe (Manager); Odran O’Dwyer (Coach); Pat Haugh, Jersey O’Loughlin, John Petty (Selectors)
Captain: Cian Burke
Key Player: Alan Sweeney
One to Watch: Thomas O’Dwyer
Fresh Blood: Dale Masterson, Cathal Morgan, Robert O’Connell, Thomas O’Dwyer
Departure Gate: Padraig Kelly, Jack Sheedy (abroad, to return)
Treatment Table: None
Titles Won: 0
Last season’s run: Finalists
Schedule
Round 1 – v St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield at Corofin, Friday 7.30pm
Round 2 – v Kildysart (Weekend of August 16/17/18th)
Round 3 – v Corofin (Weekend of August 31st/September 1st)
