Determined Castlehaven make Crokes trip in latest iteration of Cork-Kerry club rivalry

And in the latest piece of evidence to denote how very separate the Cork-Kerry relationship at club level stands to the one at inter-county, it is Crokes who are welcoming the Munster champions to their home patch. 

Castlehaven are no Cork visitors travelling across in hope of usurping those sat on Munster’s throne.

Nothing new so with regard to the Cork-Kerry club dynamic. The best of Cork has always matched up with the best from across the border. You need only look at the provincial roll of honour to confirm such. Three Cork clubs are in the top four.

Even in the past 12 years when Kerry have enjoyed a sustained level of dominance over the neighbours, coming out on the wrong side only once in 12 Munster and All-Ireland series meetings, the relationship and rivalry at club level has maintained its equal partners look.

If anything, and the same as the roll of honour, Cork sides have had the better of exchanges in recent times. The Haven, the Barrs, and Nemo edged Dingle and Stacks respectively in the last three meetings.

And so you’d have to go back six years to the last time the Kerry champions trumped their Cork counterparts on the Munster Club stage. That was 2018 when Crokes skewered St Finbarr’s at Sunday's venue.

Crokes, such was the force they were at the time and such was the total sating of Barrs appetite by winning a first county in 33 years, would have won that game wherever it was played.

Castlehaven travel with a very different mindset to Lewis Road. They were last there for the 2013 provincial quarter-final. The hosts won 1-11 to 0-8. This is a very different Castlehaven travelling Sunday.

Back-to-back Cork champions. A Munster Club in between. A team that has moved on and upwards from last year.

A team that enjoyed a 10-point winning margin in the group stages of the county championship, had four to spare over the Barrs in the semi-final, and five to spare over Nemo in the final. They’ve not conceded a goal since July 27. Joe Biden wasn’t a week dropped out of the US presidential race. That’s how long their clean sheet is running for.

“When you win two-in-a-row in Cork and when you went so close in an All-Ireland semi-final, knowing on the day that you are nearly good enough to win it, then expectations do climb,” says adopted Castlehaven son Larry Tompkins.

“This group of players, they want more. They know that county titles are brilliant, but when you talk to them, listen to them, and be around them, they are looking for more.” 

They are looking for more not as the side that ended the West Cork club’s 10-year wait for county honours and a 26-year wait for Munster silverware.

Praise for players

Tompkins goes through the headline acts and sprinkles praise. 

34-year-old team captain Mark Collins is “playing the best football of his life”. 

Brian Hurley is “among the best six forwards in the country”. Younger brother Michael is a “seriously underrated” forward that has a proven record of “kicking four and five points from play in the biggest games”.

And yet for all that, Tompkins says the Haven are a steadier and more dangerous animal for the strengthened layers beneath.

“The younger players have improved and stepped up. They got great experience from playing on so many big stages last year. These guys are unsung heroes that you don't hear much of. 

"The likes of Jack O'Neill, Jamie O'Driscoll came on in vital games this year, then got his start, and is doing very well. Andrew Whelton at midfield, Sean Browne at wing-forward, Thomas O’Mahony at corner-back. Another corner-back, Johnny O'Regan, has been around but he doesn't get the credit he deserves.

“When guys mention the Haven, they don't mention those players, but what has driven it on is a lot of those players are after coming up to another level again and playing really well.” 

The same of course can be said of Crokes. Tony Brosnan didn’t score in the Kerry decider and still they came through by a margin of six. Evan Looney was outstanding at full-back. 

Maidhcí Lynch did well in the middle third and was involved in the creation of their second goal. Mark O’Shea was similarly effective in the middle third.

None of these names were present on the pitch when Crokes last won the county in 2018. Aside from six minutes for O’Shea, none of them have played Munster Club. The same goes for Charlie Keating, Tom Doyle, and Cian McMahon.

Is the Cork outfit, so, the more collectively experienced of the pair?

“I do think the Haven have greater experience within the whole squad of players,” Tompkins replies.

“I think they will win. The Haven have no fear. They are really looking forward to this game. Hopefully it will set them up for a long winter of action.”