Kilshannig manager Denis Reen: I never thought I would have this feeling again

Kilshannig manager Denis Reen was full of emotion after guiding his team to county glory on Sunday evening.

The Avondhu side got the better of Aghabullogue in the McCarthy Insurance Group PIFC final replay at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on a scoreline of 2-10 to 1-9.

It was another cracker following on from the drawn game eight days previous. Kilshannig were just that little bit better in this one with a fast start proving key and how they managed the match when they were down to 14 players for ten minutes midway through the second half after a Bill Curtin black card.

It’s Reen’s second time guiding a team to county glory at this grade after leading Kiskeam to success in 2016.

“I never thought I would have this feeling again,” he says.

“2016 was special with Kiskeam. There’s someone looking down on me so it’s very emotional. This goes out to Shane O’Keeffe and his family in Rathmore. What a game. They are looking at the rules and having three players up top, you know me, my teams have always played three up top. I have always been expansive. It was like a basketball match, up and down. It was unbelievable. There will be one hell of a party now.

“We needed to build a panel. We couldn’t rely on certain individuals to carry us over the line. If you looked at our league campaign, we used 33 players and in the championship, we used 20 different players. All those lads bought into it. You should see training, it’s very competitive. It’s why you play football. We have a competitive squad and that’s why it comes back to our training sessions.

“I raved about Darragh O’Sullivan the last day, I have actually raved about him for six months. I think he’s the real deal. Cork have to look at him and bring him in. It’s nice to have different lads coming in and out of the panel. It’s my second title now, I am going to throw my hat in the ring next year for the Cork job.” 

It’s a quick turn around for Kilshannig as they face Limerick side Rathkeale in the Munster IFC quarter-final next Sunday on their home pitch in Glantane with throw-in at 1.15pm.

“When I was involved with Kiskeam when they won the county in 2016, we never really gave Munster a rattle. We were a bit tired. We lost to Adare in Mallow. Now, I can promise you that we will be representing Cork and we will be going for it.

“There was a stand built this year in Glantane for one reason and that was for when we won the county, we would have a home match in our home ground. The old seats in Páirc Uí Chaoimh are in the stand so it will be class up there next weekend. We will be right for the next day. We will be back training on Tuesday.”