On The Ball

Interview with Moss Keane

August 14th, 2009
by Eamonn Fitzgerald

Éamonn Fitzgerald (EF)..First off Moss to the urgent and the important, how are you coping with your cancer diagnosis.?

Moss Keane (MK)..Very well indeed. It was a huge shock, of course. I went in for a routine check-up and the medics discovered that I had cancer. I have undergone treatment for the past  six months. We all get set-backs of one kind or another and this is a new challenge for me. I am taking it on like all the other challenges I have experienced over 61 years..and I am in great form.

EF..On one occasion you were set upon near Heuston Station and suffering a serious eye injury.

MK..That's water under the bridge now, 16 years ago. That was a challenge at the time, but I moved on from that

EF..You had a big day recently raising money.

MK..Sure we had a mighty day recently in the K-club, where a host of stars from a wide range of sports played under Paul O Connell( Munster) and Brian O Driscoll (Leinster)

EF..On this wonderful day and through your great influence a very significant sum of money was raised for two worthy charities., the Charitable Trust and the Stuart Mangan Appeal - both causes dear to your heart.

EF..You are an iconic and charismatic character in Irish sport, yet you're still very much the ordinary guy  we knew shoring up the UCC football defence.

MK..Playing football with UCC was great. Let's get one thing straight, I was only a filler- in, making up the numbers. Look at all those great players from Kerry at the time. From the Killarney area alone you had Dan Kavanagh, D. Coff, Tom Looney and that great trio from Beaufort, Paudie and Brendan Lynch and Jim Coughlan. For the most part we had 14 Kerry men and a lone Cork man on the UCC football team at that time.

EF..You captained the Skull and Cross-bones to Cork County C'ship and to Sigerson Cup  successes.

MK..I was a compromise captain. They could not decide between two great footballers, Ray Cummins and Brendan Lynch, so to avoid any dissension they planked me in there. 'Twasn't for my footballing ability I can tell you.

EF..Were you ever sent off in football?

MK..Only twice.

EF..What were the circumstances?

MK..On one occasion we were playing a Cork c'ship,or Kelleher Shield match and the ref. thought I was a biteen too enthusiastic. On the other occasion the game was only on about 10 minutes , when one of the opposition laid in to Jim Coughlan, God rest poor Jim. I strode over to sort Yerman out and of course the ref, Jimmy Dennigan pointed me to the line,. No red cards that time. I made sure I brought one of the opposition with me to even things up. Not too long afterwards, Mick Morris( Kerry centre-back) was sent off on his own and we got the mother and father of a hiding.

EF..You played Under -21for Kerry fronting me against Cork.

MK..No one passed me in anyhow, whatever about the ball.

EF..And then Currow went on to produce yet an other International rugby star.

MK ..It really is amazing that a small rural area in Kerry produced The Doyle brothers . Mick Galway and myself were thrown in there as well. At that time ,even more so than now, certain second level schools were primarily rugby producing schools and these fed in to the rugby clubs, inter-pros and international teams. My secondary school was St Brendans, where ( Gaelic ) football was really the only sport and there was no mention of the oval ball.
Some of the lads in UCC rugby ream asked me to join in when the footballers were finished and it went from there.

EF..Do you recall the profile I did of you for the Munster Football  Final during Kerry's Golden Years?

MK...Didn't you get in to trouble with the GAA over that.

EF..Frank Murphy took exception to a player from a foreign code (you) being promoted on a GAA match programme.

MK..Frank of Cork ,of course..Jesus ,Mary and Joseph !!! God forgive me my sins. I cringe when I think of that narrow minded....

EF..In that profile I asked you why you thought you made it in rugby and you said " The rugby crowd wanted me because I was big and strong. I could jump and I could push and shove. It wasn't for any great ball skills."

MK..That's correct. Second row is no great rocket science. There is a greater need for skills in the other positions. My old friend, Johnny Brosnan, from Currow told me I might make a decent enough Gaelic player, but I would never be a Kerry senior, I was too big for it. I knew he was right. There were times when I was in tight situations when I felt like a man trying to turn an articulated lorry in a bathroom. He said that rugby might be an option."

EF..What goes on in the scrums?

MK..A lot of huffing and puffing. and there is more !! You don't see or hear everything , but you would want to keep at least half an eye half open so that you could give some fella a good dunt, thump or a decent slap..Of course you'd get a dunt too , if you weren't on the look out. The camera work wasn't great that time, but nowadays the electronic eyes are on you. Many people thought the Munster V Leinster match in Croke Park was very clean, but I can tell you that a fair bit of skelping went on.

EF..We have seen several examples of eye gouging in rugby games. Reminds me of that tragic scene in 'King Lear' when his eyes were gouged out.

MK..I wouldn't know any thing about King Lear. Don't you remember it was Macbeth we did for the Leaving Cert. in 1965. You must have read King Lear later in your studies.

EF You did return to St Brendans many years later.

MK..I did indeed  when they ended the boarding school section in 1999 ,or so, I headed down to the refectory, where we used to eat. Would you believe it I got the same damn pangs of hunger that assailed me 34 years earlier.

EF..Once you started the rugby you moved through the ranks very quickly.

MK..The infamous Ban ,Rule 27  went in 1971 so I switched to rugby via UCC, Highfield ,Munster and on to Lansdowne when I went to Dublin to do the Masters.

EF What went through your mind when you won your first cap?

MK..I did a fair bit of pinching of myself. Was this real that an ordinary guy reared in football in Kerry and in Cork was now wearing the green jersey of Ireland?

EF..The professional era hadn't come in when you were playing.

MK..That's right, but you must remember that it is only the elite group of players are making the big money. There are many players who have small enough money going with their contracts. Some of these are paid figures below subsistence level .
In today's game if  a player has a long tem injury it hits him hard in the pocket., so players must bear this in mind. In my time Trevor Brennan was being sent in as a sub to subdue a certain player and the only question he asked his manager was "Do I take him out just for this match ,or do you want it extended for the whole season."

EF..There is a strong suspicion in the GAA hierarchy that the GPA are not just seeking better conditions for their players but are angling for pay -to -play also. Is this on in the GAA.?

MK..No, it is not. The GAA cannot sustain hurling and football as professional games. Remember the professional game is built around big sponsorship and there isn't enough of that to go around. How do you square up the ordinary club player with the club mate that is getting paid for some competitions.?

EF..You were of course on the Munster team that defeated the All Blacks in Limerick, which has gone in to the annals of folklore.

MK..Yes, that was a memorable day. Of course it has proved almost impossible to defeat Munster in Thomond Park, Limerick. Much the same way I don't think the All Blacks would relish a trip to Aughrim. Didn't Micko( Dwyer ) prove that in the Qualifiers this year. Three northern teams came down and he took them one by one in battle.

EF..Any thoughts as you look back on an illustrious career in sport.

MK..I enjoyed every bit of it and the craic was mighty in all sports.
P.S. Looking back on it I would love to have been fit of course. Fitness is a very relative experience. Gaelic footballers are far fitter now since Heffo and Dwyer upped the pace in the mid 70's .So the level of fitness of the Kerry teams nowadays is way ahead of the great Kerry teams of 1955 and 1959. Similarly with club teams and the same goes for rugby.

EF..I have heard so many stories about you Moss, that have  entertained myself and others, but what is fact and what is fiction?

MK....You can blame Willie Duggan for some of these, I am sure.

MK..Fire away anyhow.

EF..How did your great friend in your UCC days  from High Street, Killarney, Pádraig O Meara manage to fit in to one of the tiniest,miniscule Fiat cars.

MK..It was fully taxed.....one of the great wonders of the world.

EF..You left a great print  on the ceiling of the Blue Bull pub in Cardiff and they are very proud of it. How did you manage to put your two footprints on the ceiling of the pub?

MK..I don't remember. Must have been an act of God.

EF..Do you remember  Smyth ,the BBC commentator, who interviewed you during the Lions tour in 1977 about the highlight of your tour.? And your reply?

MK..I've no doubt about my highlight.....when I heard that Kerry beat the daylights out of Cork in the Munster final. That's true alright. Dermot Coffey had told me the result some days before that.

EF..Finally, how would you like to be remembered?

MK..Are you putting me down ,already.   !!!!!!!

Howls of laughter from the Big Fella. His mind and quick wit are as sharp as ever.

MK..Give me a shout anytime at all......

EF..I will. Moss Keane, an enduring icon of Irish sport and mighty company.

Stats on Moss Keane

Maurice Ignatius "Moss" Keane (born 27 July 1948) is footballer  played for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.

Born in Currow , County Kerry, Keane started out as a Gaelic footballer, playing at college level for University College Cork and winning a number of medals which included multiple Sigerson Cups. He represented Kerry at U-21 as full back. He then found rugby through a friend in college, making his international debut on 19 January 1974 against France in Paris, a game Ireland lost 9-6.

Keane became the third Irish forward after Willie John McBride and Fergus Slattery to reach 50 international appearances. He played his 51st and final international against Scotland on 3 March 1984 in Dublin. Unfortunately for Keane, Ireland lost the match 32-9.MossKeane was also a huge  part of the famous Munster side of 1978 that defeated  New Zealand in Thomond Park in 1978.

He toured New Zealand with the Phil Bennett's British and Irish Lions in 1977, making one Test appearance, and was also a key man in Ireland's 1974 Five Nations Championship win and their historic Triple Crown victory in 1982.



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