A HURLING LIFE
It is 60 years since Eddie Keher made history by playing in both the minor and senior All-Ireland hurling finals – a striking start to a career that has immortalised the Kilkenny great in the Irish sporting psyche
BACK in September, the Rower-Inistioge club in Kilkenny staged a night in honour of one of their own. One of hurling’s greats, whose name peppers many a conversation about Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard or Mick Mackey and their stature in the history of the game.
He topped the national scoring charts 14 times in 16 seasons and his all-time Championship scoring record lasted the guts of 30 years. He was hand-picked to give Muhammad Ali a mini-tutorial when “The Greatest” came to town in 1972 ahead of his heavyweight boxing fight with Al “Blue” Lewis at Croke Park.
Number 15 on the official Team of the Century and Millennium, he was the inspiration for an An Post postage stamp. He remains a passionate supporter of both the Kilkenny Supporters Club and his beloved club and county teams.
A special book was produced on the night to tie in with the occasion – ‘Eddie Keher: A Hurling Life’ – ostensibly to mark the Diamond Jubilee of his career, 60 years after he made history by featuring in the minor and senior All-Ireland finals in the same year.
Not the mention the Golden Jubilee of him captaining Kilkenny to the 1969 All-Ireland. A book meticulously curated by Gerry O’Neill, Barry Henriques and Dermot Kavanagh with Pat Treacy interviewing various familiar faces on a night of reminisces.
A galaxy of hurling stars from Kilkenny, Tipperary and Wexford in particular came to honour him at the event at Inistioge’s Community Centre, Cois Abhann with the likes of Pat Henderson, Babs Keating and Tony Doran paying tribute.
In a wide-ranging chat with the
Irish Mail On Sunday, the man himself talks about it all, and the big reveal on the night in question.
‘I knew they were doing something on the night but they kept me fairly in the dark,’ he says.
‘There was a scroll which was read out at the end by the chairman Richard Tierney. He didn’t say who was writing this until he came to the end and there was a big cheer, a burst of applause when he revealed it was from the President of Ireland.’ It turns out Michael D Higgins is a big fan.
Kilkenny chairman Jimmy Walsh gave a lovely flavour of Keher’s life and times in a note to the booklet. ‘A legend amongst legends, in times of tough, hard hurling, one recalls his mentor, Fr Tommy Maher, and his great colleagues and team-mates.
‘We recall that iconic photo of a battle-scarred Eddie in the pre helmet-wearing days of yesteryear. We remember Michael O’Hehir’s words “he bends, he lifts, he strikes” as the listening world awaited with bated breath for the outcome from the supreme free-taker and finisher that normally concluded with “it’s a point” or “it’s a goal for Kilkenny”.
‘In a full and active life outside hurling that has encompassed being a fear chéile to Kay, father and family man, singer, musician, banker, golfer and a recipient of a Doctorate in UL and the Freedom of Kilkenny City, Eddie’s work with the No Name Club has spread the word of responsibility towards alcohol and substance abuse among our younger age groups.’
As his son Colm puts it in his own dedication, the Rower-Inistioge will forever be ‘Eddie Keher country’.
‘It was always lovely to hear from people how much they admired and idolised him as a hurler and respected him as a person. When we were young, it was a common experience to be trailing behind dad on the way from the car to a match and to hear countless people quietly say, “there’s Eddie Keher” as they passed by, not knowing we were part of the travelling party!
‘I remember one serious young man on the Ha’penny Bridge in Dublin say to him: “I never expected to see you walking among us mere mortals”! Dad was a bit embarrassed, but as a kid, it made me think of how important hurling’s heroes are to so many people.
‘In an over-40s game, I remember him getting a lovely touch on the ball and overhearing the great Fan Larkin say “when they made that fella, they broke the mould”.’
At times, the fierce battles between Kilkenny and Tipperary during the 1960s featured an element of rancour – but not one that Keher ever carried with him.
Adds Colm: ‘I think he was touched when John Doyle asked to see him before he died; the bond between even the greatest of hurling rivals is strong.’
My own father used to sit beside him at school. They stayed firm friends until his own passing, having played midfield on the St Kieran’s team that won the 1959 colleges All-Ireland. The book captures Keher as the hurling prodigy. Not just beaming out from the ’59 team but in the front row of the ’57 team that also won Leinster and All-Ireland, then a 15-year-old inter-cert student.
He was four years a county minor, it’s no wonder he made history by playing in the 1959 minor final – Kilkenny were beaten by Tipperary – and then the senior final replay following the first match against Waterford that had ended in a draw. ‘After the disappointment of losing the minor, I got a phonecall from Paddy Grace to say I’d been added on to the panel for the senior final,’ he recalls, ‘which was a bit of a boost. Being a 17-year-old, going on 18, going in with all my heroes… he told me Ollie Walsh would collect me to go in training.
‘Ollie was a huge star, a huge hero in those times. I was gobsmacked. Very obviously proud as well.
‘I think we played two games in the Walsh Cup before the replay. The first was against Dublin. I remember going in to the dressing room, being shy.
‘What I recall most about that was that Des Foley, also a young player who came on the senior team, probably a year after playing minor – and he played football as well – we were pucking around before the match, Dublin on one side, us on the other. I do remember Des coming up to me and wishing me well in my first game which I thought was very sporting. Lovely fella, Des.
‘Then we played Wexford in the Walsh Cup as well. Fr Maher told me before the replay that Johnny McGovern was injured in the drawn game, had a dicey shoulder injury. Fr Maher came to me and said that if he doesn’t get well, I’d be coming in in the forwards.’
Which he did – in the first half.
‘ALI WAS VERY DIFFERENT TO WHAT YOU’D EXPECT... AND SO FRIENDLY’
The footage is there on the GAA Gold DVD that came out with the footage of the old finals, slinging the ball over the bar.
‘I got two points. We were under fair pressure. On the hind foot for most of the game.’ It remains Waterford’s last senior title triumph.
A decade later, Keher lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup as Kilkenny senior captain, one of his six triumphs. ‘All the All-Irelands are highlights but that has to stand out.
‘First of all, our club had won our one and only senior title in Kilkenny which meant that the county final winners picked the captain.
‘And there was four of our lads on the panel for the final, three playing. Fr Tom Murphy who was corner-forward, Billy Murphy, his brother, wing-back and Pat Kavanagh was a sub. Which was a big thing for our club.’
It wouldn’t be long before he would be putting on a show for the camera with Muhammad Ali.
When the iconic heavyweight boxer came to Ireland in 1972 to fight Lewis at Croke Park, it seemed entirely appropriate that Keher was the hurler nominated to teach Muhammad Ali a few hurling skills.
That the Kilkenny player was a boxing devotee since he was a kid only underscored the meeting at the Kilternan Hotel in south Dublin, at the foothills of the mountains.
‘I was a huge boxing fan, and a fan of Muhammad Ali, back as far as when he was Cassius Clay,’ reveals Keher. ‘He was always a big hero. I remember getting up in the middle of the night to listen on a crackly radio, the fight against Sonny Liston.
‘My father was a big boxing fan. Both of us used to get up to listen to those fights. From then on he became the icon that he was. Wasn’t he voted the Sportsman of the Century?
‘So you can imagine my reaction – I was working in AIB of Capel Street at the time – getting a phonecall, to know would I go out to meet him. He was in Kilternan. Myself and my father had tickets for the fight anyway.
‘So I went out. The late Raymond Smith was sort of running the show – it might have been his idea to get a bit of publicity. We were in the AllIreland final the following month or so. When I went out, Ali was out running around Kilternan. I got talking to Angelo Dundee, his famous trainer. Just sat down and had a great conversation.
‘The great man came in then – sure you can imagine I was starstruck. This beautiful looking, handsome, athletic man walks in. He was much different to how you and I might know him. Quiet. Came in very ordinary. Very friendly. They sort of said that I played hurling. He’d seen hurling on television actually. He looked into my face and said, “You play hurling? That’s a very rough game, a tough game.”
‘You know the way that he used to go on about his face? No marks, like. Well he looked into my face and said, “you have no marks!” Just an ordinary, sit-down conversation.
‘I probably said something about the fight and some of his previous ones. The press were outside. So I was supposed to show him the skills of the game. It was only out on the road in front of the hotel, a bit of grass.
‘I was trying to show him how to rise the ball. He was holding the hurley with one hand, like a tennis racket. Then he came up close and said, “We gotta put on a show for these guys.” So he turned in to the Muhammad Ali that we know and love. Started trying to hit me with the hurl. I had to put up my own to stop him!
‘I got him to sign the hurl then, which I still have.’ Turns out too there is a story about that as well. ‘A chap from the north rang me about something, was asking me about Ali, and I mentioned the hurl. Well he nearly dropped the phone. I said, “it’s in the attic”. He said, “That should be on display.”
‘He was in Belfast and said, “I’ll frame it for you.” Well the next morning, a van arrived from Belfast to collect the hurl, and brought it up.
‘He rang me when he had it framed to know would I come up to Belfast – they were doing something in Casement Park at the time and they presented it to me. The famed Gerry Adams was there! And a number of northern politicians. Not a formal thing.
‘I have it in the glass case here, framed on the wall. They put some photos in with the frame.’
As a postscript, he did get to the Ali fight in Croke Park. ‘Myself and my father were at it. I think I was at the amateur boxing in Dublin maybe once, so the first professional fight that I saw. It wasn’t a great fight but just to be there and see him in action, doing what he said he’d do. Biding his time. Your man Al ‘Blue’ Lewis was a tough fighter, just not in the same class, obviously.’
So he never took Ali’s approach to the field himself – “I’m going to score 2-6 today lads?” ‘No, you wouldn’t dare do that!’ Because the stats alone are eye-watering.
Indeed, Dermot Kavanagh captures the staggering breadth of Keher’s impact.
‘Above all else, Eddie Keher was a man for the big occasion. He responded best when under pressure.
He seemed to reserve his most accomplished displays for the most important days. No hurler can be equally good on every occasion but so much of this man’s devastating influence arrived on the afternoon of a final.’
Such as the singular feat of featuring for four years as a county minor.
Such as the 1963 senior final: 14 points from 14 shots, four from play. A record show of point-scoring in a final back then.
He had the composure, to go with it all, as was eveident in the dying moments of the 1974 Leinster final. Kilkenny were awarded a free with Wexford leading by a point. The lace of Keher’s boot had just snapped but he calmly carried out the repairs and nailed the free.
He hd natural athleticism andduring his St Kieran’s College days, ‘he remained undefeated both in the long jump and in the 100 yard, 200 yard and the 400 yard sprint’.
As journalist John Fogarty put it in the sleeve notes: ‘Other Kilkenny greats have followed and the careers and achievements of DJ Carey, Henry Shefflin and even TJ Reid are fresher in people’s memory but on Kilkenny’s Mount Rushmore Eddie’s face has long been sculpted.’
So how does he feel when his name is mentioned in any conversation with the greats like Ring?
‘Absolutely gobsmacked. And proud to be mentioned with the greats. When I was growing up, it was the likes of Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard who were up there.
‘You’d never think or aspire to such a level. It’s not something you think about when you’re playing. When you retire, it’s different. It’s lovely to hear.’
The 60 years have flown by. As Fan Larkin put it, ‘when they made that fella, they broke the mould’.