New generation stepping up to the plate for Kilmacud Crokes

It'll be a novel Go-Ahead Dublin hurling decider between first-time finalists Na Fianna and Kilmacud Crokes this Saturday though we probably should have seen this pairing coming.

Between them, the two clubs have dominated the Dublin underage scene, Na Fianna beginning a four-in-a-row of Minor A successes with a victory over Crokes in 2014, and the Stillorgan side then picking off the next three titles between 2018 and 2020.

All in, Crokes have contested nine of the last 14 Dublin Minor A finals so when a crew of household names departed the club in recent seasons there was no shortage of hands shooting up in the air to replace them.

Niall Corcoran and Ryan O'Dwyer returned to their home clubs in Galway and Tipperary across 2020 and early 2021 while Ross O'Carroll, another former Dublin hurler, is now based in Sligo and popped up recently playing for Coolera-Strandhill in the Sligo football final.

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Sean McGrath, who has also played for Dublin, left for Canada while goalkeeper Matt Collins is back playing in Cork with Ballinhassig.

All five lined out when Crokes last featured in a senior final, losing a replay to Ballyboden St Endas in 2018, though there has clearly been minimal slippage in their absence, Eddie Gibbons one of those to step up as Collins' replacement in goals.

“There are still a few very experienced lads, the likes of Bill O’Carroll, Naomhan Ó Riordáin, Caolan Conway, they’re still knocking around so I think we still have a good mixture of experience and then a lot of freshness from the younger lads coming through off those recent minor teams,” said Gibbons.

“The team was quite similar for a good few years so I think we probably needed a bit of change and a bit of freshness and I think that’s really stood to us this year.”

Brian Sheehy is another of those exciting young Crokes players and was full-back on the Dublin team that reached last summer’s Leinster U-20 final. He came on last weekend for the Crokes footballers in the county semi-final and as the only dual player operating between both squads has the potential to win a historic double over the next two weekends.

“There’s a bit of talk about it outside our team but within the team we’re just trying to focus on ourselves and how our team performs and our own game,” said Gibbons of the double quest.

Gibbons can be excused for wanting to focus entirely on his own job. He has big boots to fill as predecessor Collins, a brother of Cork senior ’keepers Patrick and Ger, played at various levels for the Rebels himself and was a Crokes regular over the last decade. Gibbons didn’t always appear like the obvious long-term replacement either.

Clean sheet

“At underage with Crokes, I would have started off playing in the forwards,” said the 21-year-old.

“My first two years with the senior team, I would have played in the forwards and also a bit in midfield. I was kind of brought into goals with the school and then from that I would have played on underage Dublin teams in goals and then with Crokes eventually it happened this year.”

Gibbons was on the verge of keeping a clean sheet in the semi-final win over Cuala until Sean Moran’s penalty conversion deep into stoppage time. Overall it was a comprehensive and confidence building five-point win over the 2019 and 2020 champions which has left Crokes as favourites for Saturday’s Go-Ahead sponsored decider.

“We don’t fear any opposition we come up against,” said Gibbons. “We were going into that game with a lot of confidence and I think that showed in how we played.”

Crokes now find themselves in a similar situation to before the 2018 final. They beat Cuala, then the title holders, in the 2018 semi-finals as well but were unable to push on in the decider.

“There are a few small things that we have already addressed in past years that went wrong that day,” said Gibbons, referencing their 2018 final replay loss to ’Boden.

“We were a team that used to focus maybe outside our circle too much in the past, and I think we have got that right this year and are very focused on ourselves and what we can do and how we can dictate our own performance.”