Preview: Arva get the nod to produce upset on big stage

All-Ireland Club JFC final

Damien Donohoe

Listowel Emmets stand between Arva and an All-Ireland Junior Championship next Sunday and it’s no surprise the 2002 Kerry intermediate champions are there. As the Arva manager Finbar O’Reilly said after their semi-final win last Saturday, “it’s like death and taxes, there’s always a Kerry team.”

Sunday will be the 22nd All-Ireland junior club final and Kerry have played in 15 of them. The Kingdom have won the majority of those finals with 11 different clubs returning to the south-west as champions. That’s not as impressive as it sounds because they have loaded the deck slightly with their junior champions being the 25th best club in the county as a result of holding only eight senior teams and 16 intermediate.

Former AFL and Sam Maguire winner Tadhg Kennelly is one of Listowel Emmets’ favourites exports while Roscommon’s Conor Cox grew up playing for the club until he transferred to Eire Og in 2019. This year was the club’s third junior championship success in Kerry with the last one coming in 1999.

Coached by former footballer of the year Marc Ó Sé, the north Kerry side have been comfortable winners since they won the Kerry championship but had their troubles in the county. In round two they lost a high scoring game 2-13 to 2-14 at the hands of Ardfert and in a must win round three game they narrowly beat Firies 0-15 to 1-11. In the county final it took extra time for Enda Murphy’s side to better Ballymacelligott as they scored eight points in additional time to win 0-24 to 1-18.

Since the start of the Junior Premier Championship in Kerry, Listowel has scored an average of 16.2 points per game. They have scored nine goals in their nine championship outings but the five they put past Killimer (Clare) in the Munster semi-final makes their goalscoring record look better than it may be.

The Munster champions have on four occasions this year done something that is rare in Gaelic football. They have scored less goals than their opponents and still won the game having only kept two clean sheets against Lahardane MacHales last Saturday and Skellig in the championship opener in Kerry.

Corner-forward David Keane is top scorer for Listowel as their primary free taker and has amassed a personal tally of 2-10 in the last three games with five of the points coming from frees. Keane is generally accurate with his placed kicks but lacks range and they don’t appear to have a player to kick frees from a 45-metre distance as they usually go short with 45s.

A lot of their attacks are centered around 24-year-old left-footer Bryan Sweeney whose ball-winning ability both in the air and in front is of a very high standard. Sweeney has scored 1-5 in the last three games including a cheeky chip over the Lahardane keeper in the All-Ireland semi-final.

The two footed kicker Sean Keane is another crucial player in attack for the Emmets despite wearing the number five jersey last weekend. The former Kerry U20s player and Sweeney appear to be carrying knocks as they both wore strapping on the upper part of their left legs. Jack McElligott, who can play in the half-back or forward line, is another player to watch as a talented ball-carrier who can also score.

In midfield the captain Darragh Leahy is partnered by Joe Joe Grimes who is their best option to win a high ball in that area. On the ground he’s powerful and direct and can chip in with a score every now and then. Despite this, their keeper Cathal Keane more often than not goes short to mid-range with his kick-outs and in the county final was caught out on a couple of occasions when Ballymacelligott pressed up.

Looking at Arva, the figures are nothing short of dominant. In their 12 championship games to date they have scored 19 goals and 174 points, which is an average of 19.25 points per game. Only twice, against Shannon Gaels and Blackhill, have they not scored a goal and in seven of those games they scored more than one.

Arva’s average winning margin is just under an unbelievable 12 points per game having only conceded four goals and 76 points in that 12-game winning run. The strength of the Arva defence can be highlighted by the fact that they conceded on average a goal every three games. The team that has come closest to Arva in the championship to date was Drung in the group stage of the championship, when they lost out by four points.

The injury concerns around Thomas Partington, Conal Sheridan, Danny Ellis and Thomas Brady mean that Arva aren’t at full tilt going into Sunday’s final but they almost never are. Given the bookmakers have placed Arva as the underdogs and Kerry’s history in this competition, you have to view Listowel as a strong side but the feeling is that Arva aren’t being given the respect they deserve.

The Cavan and Ulster champions have three players who played county senior football in 2023 in Ciaran Brady, Jonathan McCabe and Triston Noach Hofmann, which has stood to them in a lot of games so far. Listowel’s county experience comes in the form of Joe Joe Grimes being on the Cork panel in 2022 for the NFL when playing with Clonakilty while Niall Collins, Eddie Browne and Bryan Sweeney all have All-Ireland minor medals with Kerry from 2015 through to 2017.

Around Cavan, expectation is high and why shouldn’t it be? Kerry has a great tradition in this championship, but Cavan have never had as strong a team come out from our Junior Championship as we do in Arva this year. If Arva had a full hand to pick from I’d give them a confident vote but without a full hand I’m still backing them to get the win.