Kerins O'Rahilly - A Great Club

October 20th, 2008
by Weeshie Fogarty

 There is something about Kerins o Rahillys. I have always had tremendous admiration for this great Tralee town club. Not I hasten to add have I anything against the other three town sides that do magnificent GAA work in the Kerry capital.  However I imagine my admiration goes back to the fifties when I first came into contact with members of the Narries through their football tournament which they then organized to raise funds for their newly developed fields, now their magnificent complex. My own club Killarney Legion has been invited to play in that fund raiser back all those years ago in the late fifties. 

Kerins o Rahillys for me are the great workers, they are always trying to achieve, always looking ahead, always planning and they display a passionate hard core support for all their teams when they take to the fields of Kerry. They have produced some die hard members down through the years. The present chairman is Sean Kissane and here the apple doesn't fall far from the tree because Sean's late father John was a Kerins o Rahillys legend. A tireless worker right up to the time of his death I was fortunate to have befriended John and we often had long and deep conversations about both our clubs. Other true blues who were always somewhere about when I visited the club either as a player, referee or in later years in my role as Radio Kerry reporter were. Paddy Molloy, Christy Griffin, Richard Walsh, Leo Keane, father of the renowned true blue Keane brothers Mikey, John, Davy and Bernie, Albert and Denis o Sullivan, Josie o Brien the former Kerry goalkeeper and those two gentlemen brothers club President Micheal and Joe Kerins. Breeda Murphy daughter of the great Jack McCarthy displays all the attributes which is necessary to be classed as a Trojan club worker while the present secretary Martina Griffin also continues on a great family tradition. There are of course many more ladies with blue blood running strongly through their veins. And how can I forget their regular "give every decision to my club" umpire the late unforgettable Paddy "Blood" Moran. 

However in my view the two men whose names are always and will forever be closely associated with the name Kerins o Rahillys are John Dowling and Pat Healy. Both men are now sadly deceased but their life's work that they put into their club will for ever remain as a shinning example to all those who come behind them. I was present last Saturday week when Nickey Brennan Uachtaran CLG officially opened their magnificent new nine acre field and dressing rooms at Ballyrickard Tralee. It is in fact just a long drop kick away from their other grounds down the road. Fittingly the club has decided to name these new grounds after the irreplaceable Pat Healy who had served as chairman for 29 years right up to the time of his untimely death. And no one deserves this honour more than the late Pat. He was an extraordinary person and in my opinion twenty years ahead of his time. He was always organizing, planning for the future and he had this unique gift of getting others to follow him and he saw in each individual a talent of some nature that would benefit his beloved club. It was Pat as far back as the early nineties who saw the necessity of more facilities due to the pending urbanization in Tralee town. The number of juveniles joining the club was increasing rapidly and even on this subject he persuaded the club to buy their own bus for transporting their players. Then he got the club to purchase the land at Ballyrickard.

It was he who set up the Munster club league which would prove a great benefit to clubs in the province when activity might be at a stand still due to inter county action. And the trophy Pat suggested for the winners, the John Dowling Memorial Cup. Lets hope that this league which he inaugurated is kept going. His memory deserves everyone support in this venture. He mentioned to me one time that he would love to see under age competitions organized for the juvenile urban clubs of Kerry and Cork.  It sounds so simple, but a massive venture which would open up wonderful new horizons to the youth of these counties. Imagine Kerins o Rahillys under fourteens playing the famous Nemo Rangers in the Munster final. Other sports are gone down this road already. Why not the GAA. Probably the highest honour a club can bestow on one of its own is to call their club grounds after him. Pairc Ui Ealaithe is a magnificent complex. Pat Healy was a proud Cork man from Reinairee not far from Ballyvourney. Cork's loss was certainly Kerry's great gain and if anyone's memory deserves to be commemorated in such a fashion it is he. He passed to his eternal reward in April 2007 and while last Saturday was a very poignant and difficult day in many respects for Pats wife Lily and beautiful daughters Kay, Lily and Roisin they were nevertheless the proudest people in the world when Nickey Brennan pulled the cord to unveil the stone plaque at the entrance to the brand new Pairc Ui Ealaithe. 

And so as is the tradition in Kerry the inquests on the recent All Ireland final defeat continue all over the county and beyond. Wherever one travels the subject of the game comes up and in my opinion Kerry supporters are by far the most knowledgeable and fairest of all. And the one thing that come through to me in my debates and discussions with the vast majority of fans is that Kerry could easily have won this game and there was only the width of a goalkeepers foot between victory and defeat and also that we have the players to come back and regain our number one spot in the country. The goalkeeper's foot referred to previously was of course that of the Tyrone man who saved Declan o Sullivans goal attempt late in the game. Yes of course there was other which conspired to deprive Pat o Sheas men of victory. However in any defeat which I have witnessed down through the years every mistake both on and off the field is magnified ten fold when defeat is our lot. And it is from defeats such as this that Kerry learn most and lessons will have been taken well on board By Pat o Shea nad his me if they decide to remain on and have another go at steering the Kingdom the another title.

I must admit at finding it a little amusing when I read in the papers during the week what Tyrone chairman Pat Darcy had to say as he pontificated to the rest of the country how All Irelands will be won in future. "Tyrone have re-defined the essential dynamics of Gaelic football and how the game should be played" He said. "It's a different way of playing the game-everybody defending, everybody attacking. "There's a lot of creativity in it, a lot of movement off the ball, ending always with some brilliant scores", he said. "It's a different style of Gaelic football and I believe it has set the benchmark for the future; I think a lot of counties will be picking up on that and a lot of coaches will be realizing that this is the way fordward in Gaelic football". The man is quite rightly entitled to his opinion of course but to say that Tyrone without winning two in a row, three in a row or four in a row as Kerry has done in the past are defining the way Gaelic football will be played in the future is a little bit over the top in my opinion.

Probably the one defining secret of Kerry's football story is the ability to learn from defeat and come back better and stronger than ever. When Kerry were humiliated by Meath in the 1954 final there was a near revolt in the county. The following year the 1955 final win over Dublin is hailed by many as the greatest of all. Derry's win over Kerry in the 1958 semi –final in terrible weather conditions was the shock of the century. The following year 1959 our wins over Dublin in the semi-final and Galway in the final were celebrated by Kerry men and women all over the globe. Following defeats to Down in 1960-61 one Sunday newspaper ran a series of articles entitled, "What's wrong with Kerry Football". The answer came the following year 1962 when Sean Og Sheehy son of John Joe lead Kerry to another glorious victory. In 1968 my own Killarney Legion club mate Jackie Lyne was trainer as Down once again proved the masters in that years final. One of the winning Down side was quoted as stating that Kerry were years behind in their football ability. Answer. Kerry won the All Irelands of 1969 and 1970. Mick o Dwyer fielded the youngest fifteen in the history of the game for the 1975 final against Dublin. No hope for Kerry said the so called experts. Answer, a stunning performance and another win. So not bad for a county that is constantly being advised to learn from others. Roll on 2009.

Fogra: Next week I meet Kerry's oldest living winning captain and Jas Murphy tells me about 1953 when he led Kerry to victory over Armagh and how with two other players missed the train home with the Sam Maguire. And why he is still so bitter fifty five years later having being dropped from the panel in 1954 having played just one more game with his county following that historic All Ireland win. And also the controversy over the captaincy. (Some things never change). 

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