Champion teams walk again on paths to glory
GLORY days were recalled, matches replayed, scores counted and maybe even settled, as teams from a bright period in Dingle GAA’s history during the late 1980s gathered for a reunion in O’Flaherty’s pub where pints and football talk are natural companions.
Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh was in the role of fear a’ tí for the reunion last Thursday of the 1988 and 1989 Dingle teams and he brought with him his trademark free-flowing commentary, gentle wit and stunning recall of the finer points of games long since won and lost.
In the unlikely event that he needed to refresh his memory, Micheál had recourse to an impressive booklet that was produced for the occasion, outlining the path to glory of the two teams which won the Kerry Intermediate Club titles in 1988 and ’89. The publication draws on local newspaper reports and pictures from the time and it will be guarded as a treasure into the future.
With Paul Scanlon as manager and Mossie O’Donnell and Michael O’Connor as selectors, those teams were captained by Bernard O’Sullivan in 1988 and Paul Geaney (father of the current Kerry crackshot of the same name) the following year. They were joined at the reunion by most of the players from the two teams, who travelled from far and to engage in that great Kerry pursuit that doesn’t involve playing football: They talked football.