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Even though beaten in the 2006 County Final by
South Kerry a Divisional side on a score of 1-08 to
0-12,we
qualified to represent Kerry in the Munster Club
Championship.
We received a bye in the first round and
we then met Nemo Rangers who had beaten the Clare
Champions to reach the semi-final.
(Match Report)
The build up and excitement throughout the club
approaching the Munster final brought back happy
memories of 1990/19991 winning days. We now go on to
play the Waterford champions (The Nire) on Dec 10th 2006
in Pairc ui Chaoimh.
(Match Report)
Winning the '06 Munster Club Championship was a big
boost for the Club/Players/Mentors & Supporters and gave
a satisfying feeling to all for a number of reasons
First- It was our third win in this competition, the
others being 1990/1991,and now we have the most success
of any other club in Kerry. It also sits well alongside
the Munster League which we managed to win in 2004.
Second -The Winning Trophy is called the "Michael
O'Connor Cup" in honour of the great work Michael did as
treasurer & chairman of the Munster Council and Kerry
County Board as bord na bpairc administrator in the
1970's & 1980's. But before moving on to these
positions Michael was a stalworth of the Dr Crokes Club
having played all his football with us from a young age
and was Secretary for many years. Thirdly- The younger
players of the club needed a big win after losing two
Minor County Finals & two Senior County Finals, Some by
the Minimum Margin. Everyone knows they (the Youth) are
the clubs big future & this win should hopefully set
them on their way. Another piece of thinking in GAA
circles is that clubs have to win their local
competitions and last Sunday Dec17th 2006 The Crokes did
exactly that when beating Kilcummin in the East Kerry
final of the O'Donoghue cup Championship. Now everyone
can relax over X-Mas and look forward to the Trip to
London for the Q/Final round of the All-Ireland on Jan
28th 2007. Booking on-line is the new way to go and
Ruislip is the Venue hope to meet you there.
18/01/2007 With just 10 days to go
to Ruislip things are shaping up well. The team have had
numerous training sessions since they got together after
X-Mas and Pat, Martin and Eddie worked them hard.
Its great to have our 4 Kerry players back from
Australia and word has it that Colm has forsaken his All
star trip to Dubai to be part of the preparation.
Its amazing the interest shown by our club supporters at
this fixture and flights were being booked for 1 day 2
days or a long week-end since the Munster Final. The
numbers mentioned travelling is between 500-600 which is
big support for any GAA club and everyone is looking
forward to a successful week-end. Moran's
Crowne Hotel in Cricklewood is booked out and
arrangements have been made by the club officers to bus
the fans from Killarney to the airports from the
airports to the Hotels and from the Hotels to the match
venue and back. 09/02/2007
It was a fantastic week-end for players and fans alike.
The Club exercised a very professional attitude towards
the trip, the Team stayed in Chiswick near Heathrow and
the majority of the 500-600 fans in Cricklewood where
everyone had a brilliant Saturday night while the team
was tucked up in bed.
On Sunday Morning Fr Tom Looney looked after the
Spiritual needs of the |Players, while Fr Paddy
O'Donoghue did likewise for the Supporters, but the most
important part of the Week-end was of coarse winning the
match which the team did with a great second half
display. (
Match Report )
.
The next stage of
our journey is the All-Ireland semi-final in the Gaelic
grounds in Limerick where we take on the Kildare &
Leinster Champions Moorefield. Looking forward to Feb
18th 2007. Match
Report
26/02/2007
Moorefield very nearly brought our journey to an
abrupt end during late Februrary.
One always knew that the Kildare & Leinster Champions
were a great footballing side and they proved their
worth in both games. In the drawn match we had great
chances to put them away with 10 minutes to go, and
because we failed to do this we had to survive a last
minute onslaught, and just held out for a draw. Before
the replay Croke followers were hoping that Moorefield
might not perform as well again being new to Club
football at this level. But they turned in another great
display, and what another great game it turned out to
be. A fantastic team effort by our own club, but even
then it took a touch of magic by our centerfield pair to
win out the day. When things were close coming in to the
last period a brilliant long range point by Ambrose and
then a typical Eoin Brosnan Goal ( He has got so many
like this for Club & County) finished the game off.
Match
Report
The Prize for this victory is a St Patrick's Day
outing in Croke Park against Club specialist
Crossmaglen. What more could anyone ask for! 3 Weeks now
to enjoy the Hype & Build-up to our last match and
looking forward to the Journeys end, and hopefully for
the ultimate prize.
March 17th 2007
The Journey still goes on even though this time we
missed a great opportunity to make the train trip from
Dublin to Killarney on St Patrick's Day our last.
Match Report
Pat remarked after the game that if he knew beforehand
that Brian McMahon and Eoin Brosnan (both injured early
on) would have to come off and that Colm would not score
off play he would have thought our chances very slim.
But the team put in a great display against a hard,
tough, but fair Crossmaglen, and even though some of our
lads were tossed around they got up and got stuck in
dispossessing their markers and won more than their fair
share of ball.
In some ways this was very similar to the County Final,
when in that game we had South Kerry on the rack,
attacking their goal in the last quarter. scoring a
great goal, leading by a point, missing 3 clear cut
chances to put them away, we got caught on a quick break
and their centerfield kicked a great point in injury
time to leave the teams level. On that occasion their
free taker kicked a long range point with the very last
kick of the game.
Here on All Ireland club final day we were up 3 points
in the last quarter and again had chances but failed to
kill the game and on the third minute of injury time and
on the last play of the day Osin McConville one of the
great footballers of modern times got a questionable
point that brought the scores level.
At least now we have another chance and so we continue
our journey to Portlaoise on April the 1st. A new game a
new venue and everything still to play for, where
another big performance is needed from the team and
hopefully lady luck will shine on us this time and the
journey comes to an end with the big prize
April 1st
We met the best club team in the country and only
for a few questionable Referees decisions on both days
and lady luck still not with us, Crossmaglen
brought our journey to a disappointing end. Our
Team & Selectors brought the club on a great Journey
through this All-Ireland campaign and they can be proud
of their great achievement winning Munster and coming so
close to winning the biggest club prize of all. Club
Officers & Supporters were delighted with the team
performance over the year and can see a great future for
this young team.
Match Report
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