With Austin Stacks in town, Kilshannig braced for biggest day in their history

Inside the gates, 350 seats from the old Páirc Uí Chaoimh have been repurposed for a new stand.

A capacity crowd of 2,000 is expected to line the field for the visit of Kerry standard-bearers Austin Stacks to north Cork for the Munster IFC semi-final.

“The excitement is unreal around the parish,” says club chairman John O’Riordan. “Especially the young lads, they’re on cloud nine. The rest of us wake up every morning and pinch ourselves to see if we’re still in a dream.

“Sunday will be unbelievable from 9am. We’ll line the pitch on Friday and cut the pitch on Saturday and we’ve stewards and fields and a churchyard in Glantane for parking. We’re blessed with a lot of people involved in the club. Great people.” 

These are glory days for Kilshannig. They have captured three county football titles in six years to rise from junior to senior and were a hair’s breadth away from a hurling-and-football double in 2022. It’s been a meteoric rise built upon a team that claimed minor A honours in 2016.

“We’re just haunted with a fierce bunch of players,” O’Riordan continues. “They’re all the same with a couple extra. The likes of Eoghan Burke, he married a girl from Kilshannig, thank God! He’s a big part of our club in hurling and football.

“The likes of Paddy Walsh, a Clareman, a great hurler, and a prominent member of the Premier Intermediate team. It’s great to have fellas like that blend in with the club and they’re part and parcel of our family now.” Kilshannig have displayed an iron will to reach the senior ranks, overturning some results that looked destined to go against them.

“I’ve only witnessed this once in a changing room, when I was with Kiskeam in 2016,” says manager Denis Reen. “Their mentality was frightening and I never thought I’d see that again. I couldn’t get over it in the semi-final against Iveleary, down four points down the stretch, and they dug deeper and deeper and deeper.

“Then in the county final against Aghabullogue, we were dead and buried again with two minutes to go in injury time and they kept fighting, which is the sign of a great team.” 

Reen missed his first training session out of 106 this year on Tuesday, owing to a family trip to Lanzarote. Rather than warm-weather training, he landed back to freezing temperatures. The on-field action will have to keep him warm this weekend. They’ve already hosted and defeated Rathkeale in their Munster quarter-final and are bracing for a stern test against the famed Rock Street men from Tralee.

“It just shows how dangerous the Kerry system is. If right was right, Stacks should not be down there. They’re a very high-quality team,” says Reen. “If you go through them individually, all you see is green and gold next to the black and amber. I think 17 of them played for Kerry at some stage.

“But isn’t it great? I’d rather be testing myself against a very good team than be at home contemplating what we’re going to do next year.” 

When Kilshannig last made Munster as junior champions, they fell short against Tralee opposition Na Gaeil in 2019. Reen sees the structure of Cork’s 25th-ranked team taking on Kerry’s ninth as something that needs addressing. Not that it gives them an easy out on Sunday.

“I love Cork football and the set-up – in late December/early January, we know the fixtures for the whole year and that’s brilliant – but this is the one thing they’ll have to look at. By right, we should be playing Firies, the junior champions. Carrigaline should be playing Stacks. I think that’s the way they should go about it. You’re looking at 16 teams of a difference, ninth to 25th, two tiers really.

“But that’s no excuse. I wanted to be tested against the best and the boys want to be tested against the best. There’s only one way to find out where we really are.” 

Stacks have their inter-county pedigree but Kilshannig have their own leaders, including recent Cork retiree Killian O’Hanlon.

“Cometh the hour, cometh the man – when you want a big man to come up, he’ll always shine for us,” says O’Riordan. “Killian is an icon in our club and everyone is mad about him. He’s a fierce role model, a brilliant footballer, brilliant hurler, and he’s a credit to his family and a credit to himself because he puts so much into it.

“He’s come back from two cruciate injuries. Another player would’ve just given up.” 

Reen adds: “The boys look up to Killian. He does everything professionally. And what I like about him is there’s no ego there. He’s just a brilliant clubman who loves playing football.

“I’d say it’s the first time in two or three years he has a smile back on his face playing football. He’d a lot of heartache with injuries but this year, we’re after getting him for the whole championship.” 

They’re dreaming that championship could yet extend a bit further into the frost.