Young Kilshannig supporter, Danny Guiney, shows his colours ahead of the AIB Munster Intermediate Club Football Championship semi-final against Austin Stacks on Sunday.
By John Harrington
Kilshannig GAA club Chairperson, John O’Riordan, makes no bones about it – this weekend is the biggest yet in the history of the north Cork GAA club.
That’s a fair statement considering they’ve been around since the birth of the Association in 1884, but you couldn’t accuse him of exaggeration.
On Sunday they host Austin Stacks of Kerry in the AIB Munster Club Intermediate Championship semi-final.
The Stacks were Kerry senior champions as recently as 2021 and boast more All-Ireland medal winners and All-Stars than any other club in the country, so opponents don’t really come much bigger.
Kilshannig plied their trade in the backwaters of Junior A Cork football as recently as five years ago, but they come into this game sensing a huge opportunity rather than bedazzled by stars in their eyes.
They’re one of the most upwardly mobile clubs in the country having won the Cork Junior A, Intermediate, and Premier Intermediate Championships in the space of five years and this match feels like a natural crescendo for that rising graph.
“The last few years have been fantastic for the club,” says Kilshannig Chairperson, John O’Riordan. “Great enjoyment above anything else and it brings the parish together when you have something like this happening.
“The biggest kick I've gotten out of it as Chairperson of the club was last Monday week when we went to the schools after winning the Premier Intermediate County Final and all the kids were just ecstatic.
“They were absolutely unbelievable with all their colours, the blue and yellow. The three school were all decked out and they sang songs and got autographs.
“I even ended up signing autographs myself the kids were so excited! I told them I wasn't playing at all but they were still asking me for autographs! I was great, just an absolutely fantastic occasion.”
Kilshannig players and management celebrate after their victory in the Cork Premier Intermediate Football Final.
Kilshannig draw their players from a rural hinterland to the south of Mallow that spans the parishes of Bweeng, Dromahane, and Glantane.
The puts them inside the commuter belt of Cork city which has led to a significant population increase in the last 10 to 15 years that the club has done really well to harness.
In 2016 they won a Cork Minor A football championship and the following year won a double of county U21 B football and hurling titles and that generation of players has played a big role in the club’s rising fortunes in the senior grade ever since.
“Our juvenile club has been very much to the fore for a good few years,” says O’Riordan. “We have a coach going in to three schools and he's helping us as well.
“If we can keep that going and keep up the momentum then it bodes well because the young players will be coming into a senior team playing at the highest level now which should help their development.”
Kilshannig should haven plenty of intel on Austin Stacks considering their coach Denis Reen is a Rathmore man.
The Kerry native has always promoted an expansive brand of football with every team he has coached, and that plays to the strengths of a Kilshannig side that has three deadly finishers in their inside forward line in the shape of Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Darragh O’Sullivan, and Éanna O’Hanlon.”
“He's had a very positive impact,” says O’Riordan of Reen. “The lads bought into him straight away. We have had lots of very good coaches down through the years who did so much for the club, but Denis just hit the right level straight away when he came in.
“We were a bit unlucky for a couple of years with injuries, that was our biggest problem for a couple of years, but this year we didn't get as many.
“When you have a full outfit and they all buy in to what the coach is telling them, then it's powerful, and Denis is a brilliant man. We have Colm O'Dea who came in as manager and Patrick Connell came in then as the third selector and does a bit of training too and they all work very well together.
“All the players really bought into it and there wasn't a night at training when there wasn't 25 or 30 players there. And there would always be a good crowd down watching them too which gives everything another boost.
"They're all brilliant players. They're just a credit to themselves and their families because they put in so much. The effort the whole panel has put in this year has just been absolutely mighty."
Diarmuid O'Sullivan is one of a number of danger-men in a talented Kilshannig attack.
When Kilshannig won the Cork Intermediate Championship in 2022 they were subsequently well beaten in Munster by Na Gaeil of Kerry.
Two years on O’Riordan believes the players are a much more mature bunch and there’s a belief in the club they’re capable of springing a shock on Sunday that will be reflected by an estimated attendance of 2,000 for this match.
The club recently installed 350 seats from the old Páirc Uí Chaoimh in their now completed stand, and there’s a party atmosphere in the parish as the match against the giants of Kerry club football approaches.
“In 2022 when we played Na Gaeil in the Munster Junior Championship I think back then we did a bit too much celebrating after winning the Cork championship,” says O’Riordan.
“I think we weren't quite ready for provincial championship football then because we were mentally a bit young.
“Two years on from that, I think the players are in a different place. I know we're up against Austin Stacks and they have a great pedigree in Kerry football, but I still think we'll have every chance.
“We had a good win over the Limerick champions Rathkeale two weeks ago and there's a fierce buzz now around the place coming in to this match.
“It’s the biggest game in the club's history and if we could win it would be something special. The fact we have them at home might be worth a point or two.
“Our players won't be beaten easy. Austin Stacks will have to come very strong to get the better of us because we have a team of die-hards. We’ll allow ourselves to dream anyway!”
