John Kerins hoping patience will pay off for St Finbarr's

John Kerins is the perfect example of a player who had to be patient before he got his chance.

The goalkeeper had been involved with St Finbarr's senior football panel for nearly seven years before he managed to consistently hold down a championship starting place.

But it has been worth the wait as the club have managed two Cork titles, as well as a first Munster crown since 1986, in the four years since.

"I'm not the only one to go through that, to be fair," he points out.

"Our coaches, John O'Brien and Kevin McTernan. John would have been a sub to my Dad going into the mid-nineties. And Kevin would have been a sub to John going from the mid-nineties to the 2000s. I think Deccie Murphy even after that took over from Kevin.

"So there is a long delay between fellas breaking their 20s and coming through to play senior in their mid to late 20s most of the time."

Kerins' father was the goalkeeper of one the most celebrated Cork sides of the modern era. He won two All-Irelands with the Rebels in the late 1980s, as well as seven Munster titles in that period.

He sadly died before his 40th birthday after a short battle with cancer, but John junior says he still watches tapes of matches that his father was involved in.

"It's completely different now" says Kerins. "A lot of time back then it was hit the ball out around the middle and the big lads go up and catch it. Even hearing stories growing up, there were a lot of lads saying that my Dad could put it on a six-pence or straight into a fella's chest.

"A lot of them would say he was ahead of his time then. The game back in the '80s and '90s looks completely alien to what it is now."

"Probably in earlier years it was more of a pressure thing with me," Kerins adds.

"I was putting more