MUNSTER SFC CLUB FINAL:The last big football day of the year in the southern province will not be about Cork or Kerry, writes Keith Duggan

THE CLUB football season has become a liberating force for the three Munster counties operating in the perpetual shadow cast by Cork and Kerry.

Kilmurry-Ibrickane have been proof of that. A fortnight ago, the news that Limerick champions Drom-Broadford had beaten Nemo Rangers in the provincial semi-final underlined the truth that, at club level, it is still possible to defy tradition. The final score - 0-07 to 0-06 - was called out on the loudspeakers at other club finals across the country and sent thrilled murmurs through the crowds.

If Nemo could be beaten, then anything was possible.

That Drom-Broadford will meet the Clare champions tomorrow deepens the sense that the summer championship extravaganza is quashing the football potential that exists in the "other" counties of Munster. The last big football day of the year will not be about Cork or Kerry.

Michael McDermott, a Cavan man happily exiled in Clare, spent 10 years managing the Clare junior team before he accepted an invitation to take charge of Kilmurry-Ibrickane. By any standards, he has made a dramatic impact.

The west Clare club are a powerhouse in the county and dramatically won the Munster club championship in 2004 under the stewardship of Pat O'Dwyer. But if they win this match, it means they will have gone through 2008 without losing a match in any competition.

"The senior league, the championship and another league competition without intercounty men," McDermott confirms. "We were at an advantage there in that we actually have no players on the Clare panel, so we had a full compliment. But look, the expectations in this parish are huge and people had been waiting for a run like this, hoping the club could push on from 2004.

"And as the year developed, they could see the players were putting a huge effort in and that their standard of play and quality developed with each game.

"So now it comes down to this match. I have seen Drom-Broadford play and they are a formidable outfit. There is no question. This is a huge step for us."

McDermott grew up in Shercock and sees a big similarity between the importance of football in his boyhood village and in the parishes around Quilty, where Kilumurry play their home games. But the scenery could not be more different, with the long drive through Spanish Point and training on nights so wild he could hardly hear himself shout against the wind coming in from the Atlantic.

"You can hear it in my voice still," he says.

He maintains that having home advantage for the Munster semi-final against Galtee was key to what was a comfortable win.

"In the end," he agrees. "But the day in question was atrocious. Really wild, now. And we had the wind in the first half and built up a bit of a lead. We played a good possession game in the second half and got a goal early on. On a day like that, we knew if we just kept the ball, it would be hard for Galtee Rovers to work a way back into it."

It seems odd the leading club side in Clare should have no representatives on the county team. But McDermott allows that several players have shown a resurgence of form that had not been apparent last year. As a result, seven have been invited to train with Clare when the season begins in the New Year.

"And they are going to give it a go as well," he says, indicating that for the past 12 months the club loyalties have been all-consuming. McDermott credits the rise of Kilmurry-Ibrickane to a few key people, particularly Patrick Murray, who set up a strong youth coaching structure that led to five Clare under-21 titles in succession. It yielded a group of players who were used to success.

When O'Dwyer's team made history in 2004, they met Drom-Broadford in the Munster semi-final. Kilmurry were a point down going into the last 10 minutes before Michael O'Dwyer struck an equaliser, then Johnny Daly stepped up to land a famous free just two minutes from time.

That score was described in a new GAA book by an American journalist, Andy Mendlowwitz, who spent time following Kilmurry-Ibrickane during that season when he was writing Ireland's Professional Amateurs: A Sports Season at Its Purest. Daly not only had to overcome the pressure of that free, he was also distracted by an imminent arrival.

"The ball sailed through the middle of the uprights. As his mates exhaled and celebrated, Daly's mother handed him her cell phone to speak with Davina. She was fine if not nervous from listening on the radio, and a healthy Sophie was born at nine the next night," Mendlowwitz writes in a chapter devoted to the extraordinary closeness and belief of the west Clare club.

Daly remains a key part of the Kilmurry side and most of the players who met five years ago will take the field tomorrow. McDermott has maintained the sense of ambition that Kilmurry built over the years, recruiting national football figures like Mickey Harte and Eamon McEnaney to take his team for talks and training sessions.

A second Munster title in five years would place them among the heavyweight clubs of the province.

"I think we have a good way to go to prove ourselves one of the best in Munster," he says levelly.

"But this is a club that is in the heart of west Clare, quite remote, and we are lucky that everyone bar three or four lads live and work around home. It means that the club is very important for people and a lot of money has been invested in it. It is a progressive club, no question."

That they are an hour away from their fourth trophy of the season - and a chance to end the football year on an optimistic note for Clare - bears that out.

"The players in this county are as good as in any other. But it comes to believing they can win - as did Drom-Broadford against Nemo. That is what it comes down to."