By John Harrington

The term ‘sleeping giants’ has been regularly used to describe Listowel Emmets GAA club, and it grates with them.

You can understand why, because it’s hardly a compliment. Rather, it suggests they’re underachievers.

Those throwing that tag at them will say it's fair enough to do so. After all, Listowel is the third biggest town in Kerry by a sizeable margin and Emmets are its only club, yet they plied their trade in the junior championship until winning the county title in dramatic fashion last October.

Emmets goalkeeper, Cathal Keane, has heard that line about ‘sleeping giants’ countless times before and can understand it to an extent, but believes the current crop of players are now ready to shed it.

“From the outside looking in there probably is something to it if you look at the town and don't realise what's been happening,” he says.

“For us, we felt we could have been performing better. We didn't get over the line in those championship games so it's hard to say we should be playing at a higher level or doing this when we're not.

“We were on the wrong side of championship losses where we were losing by a point or two for many years. And we didn't have a history of getting to semi-finals and finals.

“I've heard it a lot, that tag of sleeping giants, and when you look at Listowel as a town, yeah, I guess so, but then we didn't have the performances to back it up so it doesn't really follow through.

“Just because you're a sleeping giant doesn't mean you deserve to go on and win the game. Whether you're from a big town or a small country club, the work has to be put in and in the last couple of years I think I saw a big change from 2019/2020. We got back up to Division Two in the county league and have been there ever since.

“Every year we've been building and building. It was slow to get here but I think the team is in a good place in terms of age wise. it's a very young team. I'm one of the older players at 26. The majority of the team are in their very early twenties or teenagers.”

Emmets certainly showed a steely mentality by winning so many games in the fiercely contested Kerry Junior Championship by tight margins this year, including the final against Ballymacelligott which went to extra time.

The younger players that have emerged from successful underage teams don’t have the same doubts that burdened their elders, manager Enda Murphy leaves no stone unturned, and the addition of former Kerry star, Marc Ó Sé, as a coach has been another big boost.

**“**Marc has brought a mindset that we're going to win,” says Keane.

“From a player point of view he's been great. I know he was a defender, but it's not just about him working on the defence, his footballing knowledge as a whole has shone through. He's done work with the forwards as well.

“As a back he might have known exactly what he didn't want so that translates both way. He's been a great addition. He came in a couple of weeks before the start of the championship and gave the players a lift. He's someone we all watched down in Kerry and we all admired in the Kerry jersey for many years.

“So when he's on the sideline and looking to pick players to get into a team, it might have put an extra motivation on some fellas, not that we needed it.”

Kerry clubs have a formidable record in AIB All-Ireland Junior Club Championship, winning more than all the other counties combined, including six of the last eight finals.

That being the case the temptation is to make Listowel favourites to continue Kerry’s dominance, but the form of their opponents Arva deserves respect.

Since winning the Cavan championship they’ve won five matches by an average winning margin of 10 points each, so Keane knows he and his team-mates will have a battle on their hands come Sunday.

“They’ve a few Cavan players on their panel,” he says. “The likes of Ciaran Brady and a few with the U-20s as well. When you're looking at that, it's hard to pick a favourite. There's definitely going to be no easy game for either team.

“It's funny, some people I've been chatting to have picked Arva as favourites and ask how do we cope coming in as underdogs and now we hear it's vice versa. Look, it's going to be super-tight and being favourites counts for nothing on the day.”

Keane’s focus is on turning his nervous energy into positive energy and embracing the occasion and the opportunity to play a game of football in Croke Park.

“It's massive. It's something you could only dream of as a kid. I'm sure thousands of people have said the same before their first match in Croke Park and I'm also sure they would have meant it. It's huge.

“I can remember my first time going up to Croke Park and it was with the club on a tour with our U-10 team and coming back down the road you're dreaming, 'will I ever get back there?'

“So, to get back with the club and the fellas you've grown up with and trained so hard with, it's not just this year we've trained hard for the championship, it's been building blocks over the last number of years.

“Everyone who's been part of it for the last number of years are all supporting us. When you see everyone around the town and the colours, it's brilliant. It's exciting, it's great.”