Fellas would nearly cut ya for the jersey on your back

DAN KEARNEY spoke to some Kerry football supporters who recalled the excitement before, and the euphoria after, the 1997 All-Ireland Football Final

THE thing about Kerry’s All-Ireland victory in 1997 was that it carries a host of memories for people of a certain vintage. Although it’s just tipping on 20 years since Liam Hassett lifted the Sam Maguire after our 11-year famine, there was something inherently different about the country back then. The Celtic Tiger was just starting to purr, and so was the resurgence of Kerry football as the Kingdom went on to win the National League title before claiming the coveted All-Ireland in September.

Speaking to a few local people that fondly remembered the great day in September when we finally brought Sam Maguire back home to Kerry each one had their own unique memories of the Kingdom’s magnificent triumph.

CASTLEISLAND sports shop owner Gerdie Murphy said that he never saw anything like the hype in 1997 and he reckons that he never will again.

“The demand for jerseys – I never saw anything like it in my life,” he said. “A crowd called Millfield had taken over the market that year and they were producing the Kerry jerseys. Sure they didn’t make half enough and by the middle of All Ireland week we were out of them!

“It was a new thing at the time for Kerry people to be showing their colours when they would go to a match, I suppose after eleven years of not being in an All-Ireland final things had moved on. There were no such thing as kids’ jerseys or anything like that. Sure we had hardly sold any kind of a Kerry jersey in ten years.

“Let’s put it this way, before the Munster final we had Kerry jerseys on the window selling at half price – I kid you not – but when Kerry beat Cavan to reach the final all hell broke loose!”

Gerdie recalled an unusual incident in his shop on the Saturday before the final.

“I was wearing a Kerry jersey in the shop on the Saturday of the game when in walks a fella at about five in the evening. ‘How much do you want for that jersey on your back, name your price,’ he says. He was that desperate! ‘No good’ says I, and I met the same fella outside Conway’s in Parnell Street the next day and he had just a regular shirt on!”

Conway’s was a regular haunt for Kerry supporters on the few odd occasions that they did reach Croke Park in the 1990s and Gerdie is nostalgic about one corner of the bar in particular.

“We came down to Conway’s after the match and the queue out the bar was huge. Eventually I got in and there was a gap over near the Guinness tap so I went for it. Delighted with myself I stayed there for the evening and watched The Sunday Game from the most perfect corner of the pub. I was a bit shook the next day though, and when I eventually made it down to Kerry on Monday I was a bit too shook to make the celebrations in Killarney. Great times!”

TRALEE man Rory Kilgallen was a County Board delegate for his club John Mitchels at the time, and it was a role that he was very grateful to have when it came to giving out All-Ireland final tickets.

“Sean Kelly was chairman of the Kerry County Board in 1997 and he proposed an initiative that each club delegate to the board would be entitled to buy a ticket for the All-Ireland final,” he recalls. “And as you can imagine it was met with unanimous approval from the floor. I ended up with a ticket in the middle of the Hogan Stand, a great view altogether. It was the scenes afterwards though that I’ll never forget. Not one Kerry person left Croke Park until Liam Hassett made his victory speech, and the throngs of Kerry people that invaded the pitch had to be seen to be believed. It really was an unbelievably emotional day and a great day to be a Kerry man.”

BANTEER native but Killorglin domiciled Nora Fealy watched the 1997 final in the Greyhound Bar in Rock Street, and there is a very special reason why she remembers the game.

“I was eight and a half months pregnant with my son Daniel at the time, and every time Kerry scored there was a massive cheer in the bar. When the crowd shouted, Daniel would move from one side to the other and eventually I actually had to walk out of the bar.”

Nora did go back in to see Kerry record their famous victory, and she reckons that it was the only time ever that she has actually cheered for the Kingdom.

“I’m a Cork woman through and through but there were a few Killorglin fellas on the team so of course I wanted Kerry to win that day! I’m friends with Mike Frank Russell’s sister Mary and funnily enough Mike Frank ended up babysitting Daniel when Mary and I went out one night a couple of years later, so that’s another link to ’97.”

In walks a fella at about five in the evening. ‘How much do you want for that jersey on your back, name your price,’ he says

CASTLEISLAND native Brian McMahon was based in Chicago in ’97 but he made sure that he got home for the All Ireland final.

“The scramble for tickets in Chicago was unreal,” he recalls “and even though I was involved with the Padraig Pearses club the few tickets that they received were snapped up in seconds. My late dad Pat sorted me out with a ticket though and would you believe that it was a Mayo connection that got it for him.”

Even with the flights home priced at a hefty $700 Brian was still determined to make it back for the final. On that weekend in Dublin however, he met with some more obstacles that he hadn’t expected.

“After Kerry won the National League final earlier in the year we were out celebrating in the Sixpenny Bit pub in Chicago. One thing led to another and after a bit of banter myself and another couple of fellas had a dare that we would shave our heads before the fourth of July. If you didn’t do it you would have to pay each lad $100 each. Anyway, I shaved the head but the drawback was that when I went to Dublin for the final I was hardly left into any pub in the city!

“Shaven hair wasn’t common like it is now and they were generally associated with scumbags – it was the driest weekend I ever had. It was an amazing time though, and I’ll never forget that victory by Kerry – there has been nothing to compare with it since.”