Kathleen lends yet another helping hand
ON the evening of Saturday, May 12, the dynamic and energetic Kerry football supporter and charity fundraiser from the Upper Deck residence in Cahersiveen, Kathleen O’Sullivan, was on a roll once more with the launching of her CD: a collection of 16 songs linked to south Kerry.
The proceeds from the night will go to the Cúnamh Iveragh Mental Health organisation. The CD was put together with the help of Cahersiveen men Christy Riordan of CR videos, and Christy O’Connell .
The launch took place at Pulse of The Kerry Coast. A big number of people from all parts of Iveragh attended and were entertained by singer Eddie Lee and musician Paddy Casey
Mary Jo Curran who is a legend of ladies football in Kerry launched the CD for Kathleen. Mary Jo won ten All-Ireland senior football medals with Kerry as well as ten All-Star awards. Her first All-Ireland was in 1982. She went on to win nine in a row.
Her tenth medal came when Kerry were victorious again two years later.
The MC for the night was Ger O’Connor, the Radio Kerry Sports Broadcaster, a man of impeccable wit.
Many heads turned when one Michael Healy-Rae entered the premises. Michael also spoke on the night and mingled in his own inimitable way with patrons Joe McGill and Cahersiveen PP Fr Larry Kelly.
Singers on the night included Eileen Cronin (of Waterville, and wife of the aforementioned Ger O’Connor;, Jackie ‘’ Trix’’ O’Sullivan, Nealie McGill; Paddy and Rose Fogarty; and Stephanie O’Sullivan Cahill, who sang her tribute to the late Kerry footballer, John Egan.
Kathleen was in 1997 nominated by Radio Kerry in association with the Bank of Ireland as Kerry’s best supporter. For this, she was presented with €1,000 with the stipulation that €500 would go to charity.
The nomination also stipulated that the other half would cover her flight to New York to witness Kerry and Cavan play there in honour of the 50th anniversary of Kerry and Cavan’s Polo Grounds All-Ireland final, the first and only one to be played out of the country.
2001 saw her appointed by a number of prominent national GAA journalists as their best GAA supporter of the year. In 2011 she entered a national competition to determine Ireland’s greatest GAA supporter but a voting system by e-mail saw her lose out to a Donegal woman. Kathleen stated that it was as big a disappointment to her as Kerry losing the five-in-a-row in 1982.
In 2013 she launched her book ‘ The Height of Madness’ to a packed attendance in a memorable night in the Ring of Kerry Hotel, Cahersiveen. The book outlined her life and times, with a GAA flavour very prominent. On January 23, 2015, she opened her renowned Upper Deck to the public in an auspicious occasion in which Micheál O’Muircheartaigh, Mick O’Dywer and the Kerry captain of two years Declan O’Sullivan were among the many guests.The gallery is very impressively adorned with GAA photos of teams and personalities past and present and is a must for any blue-blooded GAA enthusiast.
Between the years 2007 to 2009 she completed three mini marathons in a row, raising a total of £31,607 towards the Cahersiveen Church fund, Cahersiveen Social Services and Cancer Research.
During training she rose daily at 7.30am. On May 30, 2015, Kathleen competed in the Flora Dublin Women’s Mini Marathon, Europe’s biggest Women’s Mini Marathon, in which 40,000 runners participated. The proceeds from this went to the Parkinson’s organisation in South kerry, Cúnamh Iveragh and the Iveragh Mental Health Association. She was delighted to complete this in rainy and windy conditions and subsequently retired from marathon running.
She attended her first All-Ireland football final in 1971 (Offaly versus Galway) and has since then has attended every All-Ireland including those neutral and hurling.