Araglen looking to end a wait of 22 years for junior B hurling glory

AN approaching county final naturally makes for an active time for a club chairman but for Tom Kenneally of Araglen, it's doubly busy ahead of Sunday's 2020 Co-op SuperStores JBHC decider against Freemount at Páirc Uí Rinn (3pm).

As well as lining out at wing-back, Kenneally has been chairperson of the club since the end of 2019. The 42-year-old made his debut in 1998, helping the club to win the county JBHC the following year, and he is one of a few survivors seeking to bridge the gap.

“We won our one and only county in 1999,” he says.

“A good friend of mine, James Kearney, is still there since then and my cousin Dave Browne would have been on the panel, he’s a bit younger.

I’m wing-back and the other wing-back, Ben Carey, is only 18, so there’s a good mix!”

Araglen weren't able to begin their county hurling campaign until June of this year, beating Gabriel Rangers, Lough Rovers and Randal Óg to make it to the decider after the calendar year of 2020 was subject to outside influences

“We played North Cork hurling and football and we played county football in 2020,” Kenneally says.

“Freemount, who we’re playing in the final on Sunday, actually beat us in the junior C football.”

The impact of Covid also meant that it was a challenging time for a new chairperson, but Kenneally feels that they managed well in the absence of on-field activity.

“This is my second year,” he says.

“It wasn’t too bad, we got a chance to do a bit of work on the field and things like that.

“I went in in November 2019, not really knowing what to expect but John Ahern the secretary is there with years and most of the guys that are normally there were still involved.

“One of our big aims was to put in place a five-year plan, like the county board have been encouraging, so we introduced that in early 2020 along with a celebration for the 1999 team.

“We kicked on from that with a finance committee and a development committee. Obviously, things were hard with Covid and trying to do everything remotely, but we kept it going.”

While this is Araglen's first county hurling final appearance since that 1999 win over St Oliver Plunkett's, they have had some joy with the big ball in the interim.

“We’ve been in two county junior B football finals, 2005 and 2008, we lost to Dripsey and Argideen Rangers," Kenneally says.

"It was just the way it fell, we had two very good football coaches that came on board.

“We went up junior A hurling after 1999 and we didn’t stay there very long, a few of the lads had retired and the football got stronger.

“It’s hard when you’ve nearly the same team playing both, especially in a small area.”

NEIGHBOURS

Numbers are always tight and that had a knock-on effect on the juvenile side of things. Currently, the club has stand-alone operations at U6 and U8 levels, but the formation of Kilara Óg with neighbours Kilworth has been a big help in ensuring a flow of players through to adult level.

“A big thing was that we amalgamated with Kilworth in 2012,” Kenneally says.

“I was lucky enough growing up that every team I played in had the numbers. It might have only been 12-a-side or so but we were fielding Araglen teams.

“In the last few years, we’ve struggled, being on the border of the three counties. I’m a Tipperary man myself, from the parish of Ballyporeen, and we border Ballysaggart, where the three Bennetts are from, and Ballyduff in Waterford.

“We’re in the same parish as Kilworth and our younger players then, some of them went to Kilworth and some of them went out to Ballyporeen or Ballyduff because we didn’t have teams for them. That meant we really suffered in the junior in the last few years because we had nobody coming through the ranks.

That amalgamation with Kilworth to form Kilara Óg meant that we had a block of Araglen players together again and fellas who had gone elsewhere came back to the club.

“It was great to have young fellas coming through and a few of us old stragglers stayed on for a bit as well!”

And they have been rewarded with that place in the final. Sunday will be a big day for the parish and, even though the population is small, Kenneally still anticipates a scramble for tickets - though he will be focusing on his playing duties rather than the administrative side.

“We’re only allowed to bring 250 people,” he says.

“Forty tickets go to the players and we thought that juveniles could come without a ticket but it turns out that everybody has to pay, which is a bit disappointing. That’s just the way times are.

“We’ll sort out the players and our members first – we’d only have maybe 30 adult members outside of the panel and then maybe 120 or so underage members.

“Obviously, with it being a final, there’s a buzz and a big hunt for tickets but I’ve passed the buck on to John our secretary and I’ll concentrate on the hurling side of it if I can at all!”