SAFC: Ray Keane phlegmatic as Aghabullogue take point and move on

While it could have been portrayed as a ‘bad draw’ given they led Dohenys by ten points at half-time, Aghabullogue manager Ray Keane was happy to take a point in their SAFC debut on its merits.

The group stages of the 2022 and 2023 IAFC, and the Premier IFC of 2024 and 2025, had seen the Coachford club record three wins from three. That run ended as their Dunmanway opponents reeled them in on Saturday evening – but they still left Kilmichael with something on the board.

“I’ve said this plenty of times before, it depends whether you're a glass-half-full man or a glass-half-empty man,” Keane said.

“Yeah, we could have won the game – very impressive in the first half, but at the same time left three goals after us, which ultimately cost us.

“But, like, in this heat and weather and the ground, people don't realise it's worse than a car-park realistically, so it's going to catch you.

“We fought hard and probably in the end we're lucky enough to come out of it with a draw. Again, going back to perspective, it’s the first time I think since 1890 that this club was formed that they're playing senior football, so we'll take the point, we'll go back and we'll put the head down and see where it takes us.”

As mentioned, Aghabullogue have been on quite the run – the last four seasons have seen them reach finals, losing in the fourth and third tier deciders before winning a year later.

On the evidence of Saturday, the second level does not look a step too far, either.

“To be fair, they won't be out of place,” Keane said.

“You go to any of the teams in this grade and you could pick from one to twelve and any one of the twelve will be challenging and, at the same time, one bad result could put you in looking over your shoulder.

“I keep coming back to it, this just tells you the system that's in Cork at the moment is so entertaining, so even and level that everybody has a shot in every dressing-room, thinking they're going to win a county, which is testament to whoever made up the plan.”

It means that all is still to play for as Aghabullogue gear up for a Muskerry derby against Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh.

“Look, we could very easily be going into Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh with nothing on the board and you'd be in a right downer,” Keane said.

“Now we've a point up on the board, we'll learn from it and see where it takes us but you know you see yourself there, small decisions change games.

“With the two-pointers, a small decision is worth probably four or five points because if a decision leads to two-pointer that may or may not be right, it goes over the bar, comes out, they catch it, then it's possibly three or four points you're back.

“So it's just small swings and roundabout. At half-time, we were ten up if I'm not mistaken and this is the reality, we needed to lose that half by nine points. We didn't, they beat us by ten and that’ll just tell you, that wind was very, very strong.

“It's very hard to maintain the pace we played in the first half.”