Kerry Footballers

Saluting the Incomparable Mick O’Connell

August 17th, 2011
Perched in the lea of Doulas Head and facing into Dingle Bay lies the now uninhabited island of Beginish. This is Mick O'Connell's ancestral home. His father, Jeremiah, lived there up until the early 1930s when he moved ... more»


Tracing the football career of Denis O Sullivan

June 7th, 2011
When the 1962 Kerry under 21 Munster winning team was honored in Cork recently, (they were the first ever winners of Munster) Denis o Sullivan was present to take his bow. He had been mid field with Mick Fleming that ... more»


Kerry and Colm Cooper easily dispense with Galway in Killarney

March 15th, 2011
Leaving Fitzgerald's Stadium last Sunday afternoon I kept my ears peeled as I mingled with some Galway supporters fully expecting to hear a comment such as  "give us Colm Cooper and we will play ye all over ... more»


Secrets of Kerry : A Captains Story

September 18th, 2010
Each of Kerry's 32 All-Ireland winning captains had a story to tell; about the journey they took, the day itself, its impact on the rest of his life. From the trail-blazing Thady Gorman in 1903 to the sprightly Darran ... more»


Death of Dinny O'Shea - Midfielder in Historic 1955 win over Dublin

July 20th, 2010
Denis (Dinny) o Shea one of the legends of that historic 1955 All Ireland win over Dublin died on June 22nd 2010. He had lived at Knockglossmore, Camp where as a young boy he had developed his love and passion for Kerry ... more»


Darragh O'Se - The End of an Era

February 17th, 2010
I have been watching Kerry footballers in action since my first All Ireland final in 1955 and in that time Kerry have produced some of the greatest mid fielders the game has ever seen. Many men have worn the number 8 ... more»


Miko Doyle - A Legendary Kerry Captain

December 22nd, 2009
I have been keeping readers in touch in relation to an ongoing project on the legendary winning Kerry winning captains which I am involved in and the deeper we delve into the lives of those now gone to their eternal ... more»


Michael Quirke - Sportsman Supreme

December 15th, 2009
Something amazing occurred when the final whistle sounded in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick two weeks ago.  Kilmurry/Ibricane the Clare champions had defeated Kerins o Rahillys by one point to claim the Munster ... more»


Darragh O'Se and more Midfield Legends

September 30th, 2009
I can still see it as clear as day in my minds eye as if it was only yesterday.  The Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney, May 22nd 1994 as a young slip of a lad from the Gaeltaght club in West Kerry made his inaugural ... more»


Still number 1

September 16th, 2009
When, as I expect, Kerry win their 36th All Ireland title next Sunday, GAA historians will look back and point to one defining moment in what has be a magnificent voyage by our county footballers. Seven championship ... more»


A Legion of goalkeeping greats

August 10th, 2009
You read here last week that the Terrace Talk Special will be broadcast from the Killarney Legion complex next Monday, August 17 from 6-8pm. And this now is an open invitation to one and all to come along and meet the ... more»


Talking to Paul Galvin in the Dressing Room following the 2007 All Ireland Final

September 18th, 2007
He sat in the corner of the Kerry dressing room in Croke Park, seemingly oblivious to the sight of the gleaming silver Sam Maguire cup standing on the table before him. Reporters and photographers scurrying around ... more»


The Late John Moriarty, my great friend on the Genius of Colm Cooper

June 5th, 2007
They came from far and wide to say a final farewell to John Moriarty, poet, author and philosopher and unknown by most a passionate lover of Kerry and its footballers. John died on Friday June 1st and he was laid to ... more»


John Joe Landers - My Sporting Hero

January 1st, 2001
Kerry lost one of its greatest football legends last year with the death of John Joe (Purty) Landers, of St Brendan's Park, Tralee. Mr Landers, who died at the residence of his daughter, Veronica Toomey in Millstreet ... more»


Ogie Moran - The Jewel in the Kerry Crown

Ogie Moran had a glittering career in the Green and Gold jersey of Kerry, no wonder then that he is regarded as a sparkling jewel in the football crown of the Kingdom. He has a pocketful of medals, an abundance of skill ... more»


Paddy Kennedy - All Ireland Winning Captain 1946

Paddy Kennedy. The name keeps coming up where ever football is discussed. Ask any one who knows anything at all about the game who was Paddy Kennedy? And the answerer invariably will be. "Wasn't he the great Kerry ... more»


Phil O'Sullivan - All Ireland Winning Captain 1924

Last Thursday our journey brought us to Cloyne in county Cork birth place of the great Christy Ring, where we spent a fascinating few hours in the company of a charming lady now in her 90th year. Annie Hegarty has a ... more»


Dan Keating talks about Great Kerry Midfielders

2005 What is it with Kerry and legendary mid-fielders/high fielders? Since the earliest days of the association the Kingdom have dominated the aerial battles around Croke Park on most occasion when they won the All ... more»


The Greatest Right-Halfback of the Century - Sean Murphy of Camp

When talking of his native Camp, Sean Murphy exudes pride in his own place. When speaking of Gaelic football and its greatest exponents, the man who was selected as one of the 15 greatest Gaelic footballers of the ... more»


The classiest most stylish Kerry Football Fifteen I have seen since my first game in 1955

Left full back There were a number of contenders and I finally decided on the great Beautfort man Paudie Lynch. Blessed with all the attributes of skill this most elegant of players had wonderful hands and would ... more»


Din Joe - The Man from Rathmore

I played with and against Din Joe Crowley. He was one of the strongest and powerful footballers I have seen, you can never say who was the most powerful of all. He played with Rathmore against my club in the 1967 East ... more»


Sean McCarthy (1898 - 1977)

Sean McCarthy was born in Blennerville outside Tralee in 1898 and later moved to Strand Street in the town. He was one of the founders of the local club known as the Kerins O'Rahillys. As a footballer he was midfield ... more»


Jas Murphy - Kerry's Oldest Living Winning Captain

Fifty five years ago on September 27th 1953 Jas Murphy led Kerry to a historic win over Northern rivals Armagh in the All Ireland football Jubilee final in Croke Park. There was a then record attendance of 82,000 fans ... more»


Paddy Kennedy - Kerry's Legendary Midfielder

Ask a follower of Gaelic football anywhere to name a half-dozen of Kerry's all-time greats and you will get an infinite variety of selections. But I venture to say that all lists would include the name of Paddy Kennedy ... more»


One of Kerry's greatest ever - Joe Barrett (1902-1952)

The renowned Kerry fullback was born into a nationalistic family at 67 Rock Street, Tralee and it was within those four walls that he drew his last breath. At the age of 45, his health started to fail and he was dead ... more»


Liam Higgins - A loyal friend and a great Kerry and Lispole man

The old schoolhouse in Lispole is deserted now, a relic that s boarded up and blue. Decaying when it was once where football stories were made. One story dates from 1979. Members of the Lispole club went into ... more»


John O'Keeffe - The Prince of Full Backs

The dissipation of so many dreams that inevitably followed Kerry's All Ireland defeat of 1982, hit nobody harder than John O' Keeffe On the threshold of his eight Celtic Cross award, victory over Offaly would have set ... more»


Bob Stack - A Kerry star born in New York

One of the finest Gaelic footballers to wear the green and gold of Kerry - Bob Stack - is not as well remembered by the present generation of Gaelic Games followers as men who had less colourful careers on the sports ... more»


Eddie Walsh - The Pride Of Knocknagoshel

When one works as a newspaperman for well over two decades, you naturally encounter quite a varied cross-section of people of almost every walk of life. You meet the happy and the sad, the rich and the poor, the jocular ... more»


Phil O'Sullivan - The Man not the Myth

Neatly resting at the foot of the Caha mountains lies Glanmore Lake, on whose south-western shore is situated the former local National School, now a Youth Hostel. It was here that Phil Sullivan, one of Kerry's great ... more»


Bill Dillon

Cooleen, on the shores of the famous Dingle bay, was the birthplace of one of Kerry's greatest halfbacks - the wonderful Bill Dillon. As a young boy in the early 20's his favourite past time was beagling, and his ... more»



 
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