Excitement builds as Daingean Uí Chúis head to Croke Park

The footballers of Daingean Uí Chúis in the Corca Dhuibhne peninsula in west Kerry will head to Croke Park this weekend, seeking their first all-Ireland title.

It is the most successful the club has been in its 67-year history.

The whole town has been taken with the buzz and the build-up since An Daingean won the Kerry senior football championship towards the end of last year.

The fifth-class boys at Scoil Iognád Rís in Daingean Uí Chúis are beside themselves with excitement ahead of Sunday's all-Ireland final.

Most of the An Daingean team that will take to the field on Sunday went through primary school in Scoil Iognád Rís, and the manager of the team is school principal, Pádraig Corcoran.

In class, the boys are practising Old Comrades on their tin whistles, a tune that is synonymous with the Wren in An Daingean on St Stephen's Day - it fosters a spirit of togetherness and of the team.

The boys are confident that An Daingean will be successful on Sunday and will win the all-Ireland title for the town for the first time.

Boys like 11-year old Jack, whose father, Johnny B., is a coach and selector with the team.

"Dingle have been very good; they've gone through a lot. They've been successful in Munster, in the county, and hopefully the all-Ireland now," Jack said.

Eleven-year old Joey O'Connor's father Billy is a veteran midfielder on the An Daingean team. Joey thinks that Sunday's game is going to be very tight.

"Hopefully, Dingle will win," he said.

Bobby Kelliher, 11, talks about how important getting this far is to everyone in the town.

"It means a lot to everyone. Obviously they've had massive success this year, and hopefully they will continue with that."

Daniel Murphy, 12, describes the connections between the team and Scoil Iognáid Rís.

"A lot of the players went to this school and our principal and our teacher is Pádraig Corcoran, the manager of the team," he said.

"They haven't won in a while and they really want to win it, especially with Paul Geaney and all the really good players playing really well this year."

Teacher Michelle Ní Chonchúir said that the success of the senior football team in An Daingean is all that the boys can talk about.

"Football is everything to people in An Daingean and the fact that they haven't won it before is huge, especially for us here in the school," she said.

"All the players went to the school, so it's massive and we're so proud of them and we're just really hoping that they're going to be lucky and it's their day on Sunday."

Not too far away from the school on Bridge Street, Fergus O'Flaherty's pub is a well-known landmark, famous for its traditional music.

Former players gather here to look ahead to Sunday's game and what it means to them.

Bernard Dan O'Sullivan is a former all-Ireland winner with Kerry. His sons, Barry, Dan and Darragh, play for An Daingean. Bernard says football is everything in the town.

"It is the holy grail, I suppose. It's beyond our wildest dreams, really," Mr O'Sullivan said. "We've just a small membership but football is very important here and, as I say, everyone has put their shoulder to the wheel - they'll all be cheering us on Sunday."

Maurice O'Connor made his senior debut for Dingle as a 15-year old.

"That 1973 against Austin Stacks - the great Austin Stacks team actually, at the time - inside in Tralee," he said.

Describing what the success of An Daingean means to the town, Mr O'Connor said: "It would be the highlight of our lives.

"To win the county championship was the end-all of all for most of us. Nobody is talking about a bonus: we're there; we want to win it, and it'll be absolutely wonderful."

Noel Flannery can trace his family association with the GAA in An Daingean back to 1928.

He himself has had every position in the club, from player to backroom team to executive committee member. Local people also say his brother Vinny trained every one of the team who will take to the field on Sunday at underage level.

He describes his current state as "dreamworld".

"We never thought at the start of the year that we'd win the county championship this year. We had so many injuries. All our lives we've dreamt of winning that (the county championship), but we're in bonus and dreamworld stuff now. To get to an all-Ireland final - it's just amazing for us, you know."

Michael Slattery was the first captain of the An Daingean senior football team when the club was formed from the amalgamation of two smaller teams in the town in 1967. He said that this season's success is down to a special bunch of players.

"You have a great mixture," Mr Slattery said.

"You have great workers in the backs. You have the young Connors there and they're great. And then you have centre field, Mark Diony, what said about him is unreal and then give the ball to the Geaneys and they'll throw it over.

"So, you have a good mixtures of workers on the ground and scorers."

Daingean Uí Chúis has many famous sons. Founding member of the band Walking on Cars, Pa Sheehy is one of them.

He has written a song paying tribute to the team called 'The Top of Bín Bán'. The song will be released later today.

"Whatever about Sunday, what they've done until now, the whole town will be proud of them," Pa said.

"If they can do it on Sunday, it'll be unbelievable, brilliant. But, we are so proud of those lads and what they've achieved, and the character of them.

"The whole panel - anyone who comes on - they're all in. Look, if Sunday happens and it goes our way, absolutely brilliant, and if it doesn't, these guys are legends in the eyes of the people of Dingle."

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