Untouchable Kerry dominance. Within that, Tralee dominance heading in the same untouchable direction.
After two years resident at Mercy Mounthawk, the main prize in Munster post-primary football has travelled the short distance of three kilometres in the road to Tralee CBS. The Corn Uí Mhuirí is staying in the town for another 12 months.
Winning joint-manager Marc Ó Sé cut a content figure to see the silverware and local momentum swing back towards the Green.
“It is massive for the school because in Tralee you have two big schools and it is an even keel with the schools,” Ó Sé began.
“It is not like Killarney where all the players go to the Sem, but I think now we have turned the tide, I think a lot of the footballers are coming to the Green again, which is a good thing for us. And you could see the fruition there in that win today.”
The same as last week’s Harty-winning Nenagh CBS group, a great deal of expectation surrounded this Tralee class from the outset of the competition. The school was U17 Frewen Cup champions in 2023 and 2024. Saturday’s starting line-up contained six survivors – Stephen Turner, Eoin Moriarty, Fionnán Ryan, Eoin O’Flaherty, Mairtín McKivergan, and Ronan Carroll – from the team that came up narrowly short in the 2024 Corn Uí Mhuirí decider.
In short, Tralee were the side to take down. And while they didn’t saunter to the summit in the same vein as the Mounthawk class of 2025, St Brendan’s Killarney – at the quarter-final stage – were the sole team to finish within a single score of Tralee CBS.
“If a Kerry team is in a Munster final, there is always expectation and demand. We knew that,” Ó Sé continued.
“It was a great performance by the lads. You had two players who stayed back and repeated the Leaving Cert this year, Tadhg O’Connor and Eoin O’Flaherty, they had a huge role to play in that game today, so you’d be delighted for them. You’d be delighted for everyone involved there today.
“A massive win for us. These fellas were hurting after last year (they lost the quarter-final to St Brendan’s), you could see that. But it was player led from the start. They wanted us, the management, to stay on. You knew when it was player-led that it was going to be a lot easier, and it made our decision to stay on easier.
“What a bunch of players to manage. It is their day. They deserve it. Fantastic performance throughout the team.” There was a slight wobble. Ahead by 1-14 to 0-4 on 42 minutes, their lead was whittled to three points, 1-14 to 1-11, just eight minutes later.
“We knew that Clonmel had nothing to lose. We knew, as well, at half-time that they were going to come, and they were going to show something. They did that.
“Thankfully, we stood tall and weathered that storm because that storm did come. Those two two-pointers, and obviously the goal, were massive.
“Lads can react funny to that, and it is a hard one to try and stop. I always felt if we could get the ball up the field, I always felt we had a great chance because of the forwards that we do have. Thankfully, we did get that ball up.
“We have fellas around the middle eight who work so hard off the ball. We got that ball inside and what a great goal by Gearóid White. It calmed us a bit. We needed that goal and it came at the right time.”
The green and gold pipeline continues to churn out emerging talent at almost frightening speed. That’s 14-in-a-row for Kerry schools, in case you haven’t been keeping count.
As the new Kerry minor manager, Ó Sé doesn’t need to be told the importance of Kerry maintaining their superiority on the Munster schools front.
“It bodes well for the county. It is a great competition. They are hard won. I am teaching in the school 23 years and hadn’t won it before today, and I’ve been involved in a good few teams down through the years, so I know how hard they are to win.
“We are going to savour this one and enjoy it.”
