‘East Kerry was a major stepping stone in my Kerry career’
THE exploits of Kerry football stalwart Aidan O’Mahony need little introduction in these pages as the five time All-Ireland winner is one of the best defenders the game has ever produced. Aidan played in many stand out games for the Kingdom; chief among them being his man-of the-match display in the 2006 final. But the prelude to Aidan’s greatness in the green-and-gold started in the red-and-white of Rathmore and East Kerry.
Aidan credits his achievements on a national stage to the grounding he received at club and divisional level, especially in the ultra-competitive O’Donoghue Cup competition. Rathmore is on the crest of a wave right now having won four O’Donoghue Cup titles in a row. But what makes the O’Donoghue Cup so special for Aidan O’Mahony?
“For any club in east Kerry this is the biggest competition after the county championship. You only have to see the teams involved to know how tough it is. Rathmore might have won the last four but when I first started out in 1996 it took us almost a decade before I won one. It’s a massive competition that is taken very seriously by the clubs.”
Aidan was also a member of the famous East Kerry 3-in-a-row county championship winning panel of 1997-99. He also played U21 around this time and he describes the whole experience of playing with a divisional team as ‘invaluable’.
“Rathmore was an Intermediate club at the time and as a player you had to step up a gear when coming into the East Kerry panel. The team they had back then was laden with Kerry players from underage right through to senior.”