Egan hails players’ bravery as Kilmeena prepare for next challenge
The Kilmeena team celebrate lifting the James Sweeney Cup following their narrow win over Moy Davitts in the Egan Jewellers Mayo IFC final last month. Pictures: Martin McIntyre
Adventures beyond the Mayo border have become commonplace for Kilmeena these past four years and they will embark on another next Sunday when they face Galway champions Caltra in the Connacht club intermediate quarter-final.
Tuam Stadium may revive some bad memories for the Black and White as it there almost two years where they lost to Monivea-Abbey in the Connacht semi-final, when Darragh Keaveney saw a penalty saved in injury-time, but they will hope to erase all those and prepare for more potential Connacht success.
Since that defeat, they experienced senior championship for the first time in Mayo last year. Their stay was a brief one but their return to intermediate was equally short as they will return to the senior grade next year after winning a second Sweeney Cup in three years.
There was a change in the dugout this year, with Damien Egan having the unenviable task of replacing John Reilly, who in addition to winning the intermediate title in 2023 guided Kilmeena to the All-Ireland junior title the year before.
“The dynamic of the last three or four years, a lot of the core players that got great success with John were still there,” Damien Egan told the this week. “But I suppose the caveat was, there's still four, five, six lads who were key parts of that intermediate team from two years ago who for various reasons, you know, are no longer involved with the group.
“It was an interesting dynamic. On one hand, a lot of lads had the muscle memory of winning county titles, whereas on the other hand, with a core element of the group it was, in one way, kind of starting from scratch again.
“When key lads leave, it’s by necessity you to dig into the youth and maybe lads who didn't get a massive amount of game time before.”
To do that, while building momentum ahead of the championship, is no easy task but Kilmeena have done so successfully. Daniel and Conor Kelly, as well as intermediate final hero Cormac O’Malley, were introduced during the Mayo Senior League which saw Kilmeena win eight out of nine games, losing only to eventual Division 2 champions Ballaghaderreen.
“Bit by bit then, the momentum and the confidence builds in those lads, and that kind of held us in good stead rolling into the championship,” said Egan.
Any doubts over whether Kilmeena would have a senior hangover going back into intermediate were answered in the group stage when they came back from seven points down with ten minutes to go against The Neale to win in Cong, with quickfire goals by Darragh Keaveney and a returning Caolach Halligan flipping the game in minutes. Egan feels the game was a turning point in their championship aspirations.
“Leaving Cong that day, I could see for myself that in the heights of pressure and adversity, the lads really stood up and figured out how to get over the line. I suppose after that day, confidence really ratcheted up.
“The other games, Cill Chomáin, Kilmaine, and on into the semi-final and final, one game flowed into the other after we got over that Cong game.
“We've looked to get a huge impact off the bench and thankfully for most games it has worked. Various lads coming on doing different things.
“It is a 20, 22 man game and against Caltra, it'll be the same. The key is trying to finish these games with your best team.”
Being able to bring on experience like Halligan and Stephen Staunton was a huge plus for Kilmeena coming down the home stretch against Moy Davitts in the county final. It could have been a less dramatic win for the West Mayo side had they not shot fourteen wides on the day but Egan paid tribute to the self-belief of his side to keep going when others would have faltered.
“Down the stretch, I suppose the wides we had was obviously frustrating from a management point of view but the other side of that is, the lads on the field, they backed themselves to keep shooting.
“That's probably what won us the game, where other teams might kind of balk down the stretch at being brave and taking the shots on. In fairness, the lads kept doing it.
“Moy Davitts are obviously a fantastic team but I suppose if you're to drill into it, how defensively we did well on the matchups, marking some of their really important forwards, and that gave us a platform then to attack and play the game on our own terms.”
As Egan pointed out, Kilmeena know how to deal with adversity and going again, but the same can be said of Caltra. They were beaten twelve months ago by St Michael’s in the Galway intermediate final but won on this occasion, defeating An Spideal in Tuam Stadium, with Egan in attendance on the day to get a closer look at his side’s opponents.
“You could see kind of all over the field they're a well-balanced physical team. The likes of Michael Mulryan, Alan Naughton there's some really good forwards as well.
“We had our celebrations last weekend; we're right down to business again. We're fully aware and we've done our homework on the ins and outs of Caltra. It’s going to be on a knife-edge again but this time of year, still playing football, and competitive football, is great and we'll see what happens.”
