2 weeks Ago By Irishexaminer.com
For fear of butchering the local geographical landscape, we’re going to reheat Canovee selector Tommy Murphy’s recent explainer of just how close they sit to this evening’s county final opponents. “A lot of people probably don’t realise how big the rivalry is between Canovee and Kilmurry, but the bottom line is that Canovee is in Kilmurry parish, so we are right in the middle of it,” Murphy says of this evening’s Premier Junior football finalists. “Both are always vying for players and all that, so it’s the biggest rivalry that we have.
” Driving to Ballyvourney on Wednesday for a school's game, that overlapping proximity got a touch confusing for this outsider. On the Cork side of Lissarda, we saw a ‘Best of Luck Canovee’ sign. Enter Lissarda then and the well-known eatery Mai Fitz’s, as the main sponsor of Kilmurry, is bedecked in green and gold.
A sign for Kilmurry GAA lies a few hundred metres up the road on the left. Two kilometres further out the N22 headed for Macroom is a sign directing you for Canovee GAA. On the next mound of earth over is a well-wishing Kilmurry sign and flag.
As we said, all a bit confusing for the non-locals and all terribly close for the participants. “You kinda get used to playing them out in Macroom in Muskerry championship games, but I never thought we’d be playing each other in a final inside in Páirc Uí Chaoimh,” says Kilmurry full-back William Ronan. “It’ll make for a nice occasion.
There’ll be a big build up in the whole parish, really, between Canovee, Kilmurry, Aherla, and Cloughduv, and all them local areas.” Over to the other side of the road for the Canovee take. “There’s nothing that Kilmurry don’t know about us that we don’t know about them,” says Canovee captain William Ahern.
“I’ve grown up with nearly the majority of their team playing hurling (for Cloughduv). We know each other inside out. Plenty of rivalry over the years.
It’ll be a special night. There should be a big old crowd down here. “For that hour, there’ll be no love lost anyway.
There’ll be skin and hair flying I suppose. It’ll be a tough hour. Once we cross that line, all bets will be off from both teams.
” Both clubs are upwardly mobile these past few years. Kilmurry won the county junior in 2022 and should have won the Premier Junior last year, only for the Barrs to stun them with a 59th minute goal which saw the Togher outfit hit the front for the first time in that decider. As for Canovee, they won the county junior last year and now stand where Kilmurry were 12 months ago - one hour from back-to-back promotions.
When they met in the group stages last month, local spoils went to Canovee on a 2-8 to 0-9 scoreline. “We’ve been riding the crest of a wave,” continues Canovee’s Ahern. “Riding that wave from the victory last year and trying to capitalise on it.
These waves come few and far between, so it is important to enjoy it, first of all, and try and keep that momentum going as long as possible.” A collection of the latest sports news, reports and analysis from Cork..
