After a great hunger comes a great fulfilment

In the final year of his 10-year tenure it looked as if SEAN KELLY was going to be the first Kerry GAA County Board chairman to leave office without Sam Maguire being won on his watch. With just a couple of months left that all changed on September 28, 19

AH, the end of the famine at last! After 11 long years, a Kerry captain, the red-haired dynamic Laune Rangers wing-forward, Liam Hassett, lifted Sam high above his head on the rostrum of the Hogan Stand as the tumultuous cheers, rapturous applause and beaming smiles of Kerry people illuminated the scene.

It was, indeed, a glorious moment – a moment never before experienced by Kerry people never had the county to wait so long between All-Ireland senior football titles and for the Sam Maguire Cup.

Kerry supporters were used to the old ‘canister’ coming to the deep south at least every three or so years for over a century. It was kind of the natural order, part of the stable diet. Indeed, in the golden years of the Mick O’Dwyer era, it seemed like Sam was here every year (it was eight out of twelve).

We got kind of used to jotting into the diary in January: ‘Third Sunday in September – Croke Park – All-Ireland Final – Kerry v ? – must remember to get a ticket.’

But all that changed after 1986. The well ran dry. Plans for Croke Park in September had to be scrapped. A seat in Croke Park was replaced by a seat in front of the television watching other counties fight it out for All-Ireland glory. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t pleasing and as the years rolled on, it became more and more frustrating. Naturally the natives became restless. They wanted answers and they wanted solutions.

Who was Chairman of the Kerry County Board during all these years? None other than yours truly – yes, Chairman from 1987 to 1997.

Same man, same results, something must be wrong, they said, so get rid of the Chair became an all too familiar catch-cry as the 1990s and my term of office wore on.

Indeed, I was the only Chairman who was challenged not once but twice during my reign. It wasn’t surprising – in Kerry we win All-Irelands, and if we don’t the buck stops with the boss.

But we survived, thanks to the support of the clubs who looked at things deeper and saw that while the well had run dry, a lot of measures were being put into place to rectify matters and get Kerry back to where it belonged – at the very top.

A youth policy was adopted. Kerry managers of that era gave youth its fling, introducing promising players to the county squad as the old soldiers of the golden era gradually faded away.

All-Ireland titles for Kerry Schools and Colleges came our way.

I will never forget The Sem’s glorious All-Ireland victory in 1992 when Fr. Larry Kelly, Fr. Jim Kennelly, Pat Moynihan and myself helped guide St Brendan’s College to its we won our second ever Hogan Cup title inspired by the brilliance of rising start Seamus Moynihan.

There was the All-Ireland Club win for Dr Crokes that same year, 1992, an All-Ireland minor titles in 1988 and 1994, and back to back All-Ireland U-21 successes in 1995 and ’96.

There was also a revitalised County Championship, the setting up of the Kerry Supporters Club and Friends of Kerry Football, which all formed part of the jigsaw that brought us back to the top again. But, boy, was it slow and hard work.

We suffered some unmerciful hammerings at senior level, so much so that you’d be hoping to God that there would be nothing on the week after the Munster Final so that you could stay at home and out of the firing line. I’m sure it must have even been worse for the players and management. But that wasn’t always possible.

The great Paddy Bawn Brosnan died at Munster Final time so naturally all Gaels gathered to pay tribute to one of our greatest and most loved heroes.

The GAA President at the time, the late Jack Boothman, came to pay tribute, as did thousands of admirers from the GAA world. In the churchyard outside Baile Dhaingean Ui Chuis one Kerry person was boasting to Jack about all the great All-Ireland winners that were buried there. Jack responded with the observation: “Ye better start digging them up or ye’ll never win an All-Ireland again”.

And I suppose that was the essence of it. Kerry Radio was in its infancy then but it made hiding after a hiding in the Munster Final impossible. I remember getting a terrible grilling as Chairman when I agreed to take a call the Monday after another drubbing from Cork in the Munster Final. The call was only supposed to be for a few minutes but as more and more people rang in, I think it extended to an hour or so. It was a baptism of fire but looking back, it was great training for subsequent years and events.

The bottom line was simple, Kerry folk were used to success, loved success and

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Paídí was a born winner who, I believe, cared for little else other than Kerry football