North Kerry representation on Kerry teams
• During Kerry’s ‘Golden Years’ period between 1975 and 1986, there were often five North Kerry players on Mick O’Dwyer’s starting fifteen. In 1978, 1979 and 1981, Charlie Nelligan (Castleisland Desmonds), Jimmy Deenihan (Finuge), Tim Kennelly (Listowel Emmets) and the Beale duo of Denis ‘Ogie’ Moran and Eoin ‘Bomber’ Liston all lined out from the start in the victorious Kingdom outfits. A sixth player from the district, Asdee’s John Kennedy, started the 1984 All-Ireland Final win over Dublin.
• However, in the 34 years since 1986, with Kerry reaching 13 All-Ireland Finals, only ten different North Kerry players have made the starting 15 for All-Ireland Final day. There was also never more than three individuals from the region selected, and that only occurred on one occasion, when the 11-year famine for the return of the Sam Maguire Cup came to an end in 1997. Stephen Stack (Listowel Emmets), Liam O’Flaherty (Ballydonoghue) and Eamon Breen (Finuge) all lined out in the Kingdom defence against Mayo that year.
• The other seven North Kerry players to start in All-Ireland senior finals since then are: Finuge’s Eamonn Fitzmaurice (2000 and 2002), his clubmate Paul Galvin (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009), Listowel Emmets’ Noel Kennelly (2000), his brother Tadhg (2009), Duagh’s Anthony Maher (2011, 2014, 2015), Tarbert’s Shane Enright (2015), Ballydonoghue’s Jason Foley (2019).
• Three other North Kerry players came on as substitutes in Kerry’s All-Ireland senior football teams since 1997. They are Ballylongford’s Paddy Kelly (2004), Listowel Emmets’ Brendan Guiney (2004, 2006) and Mossy Lyons of Castleisland Desmonds (2007).
• In the recent All-Ireland minor football championship five-ina-row achievement (2014 to 2018), there were only eight different North Kerry starters across those five successful campaigns. They were:
2014 – None
2015 – Jason Foley (Ballydonoghue), Brian O Seanachain (Ballydonoghue), Bryan Sweeney (Listowel Emmets)
2016 – Neil Collins (Listowel Emmets), Mitch Foley (Ballydonoghue);
2017 – Barry Mahony (St Senans), Adam Donoghue (Castleisland Desmonds)
2018 – Paul Walsh (Brosna).
In addition to those, Cormac Linnane (Beale) in 2016 and Jack Kennelly (Ballydonoghue) in 2018 were introduced as substitutes.
• At Under-21 level, Kerry’s last five All-Ireland titles in 1990, 1995, 1996, 1998 and 2008 saw only seven different North Kerry starters. They were Liam O’Flaherty and Eamon Breen (1990), Eamonn Fitzmaurice (1996, 1998), Noel Kennelly and Listowel Emmets’ Brian Scanlon (1998), Shane Enright and Ballydonoghue’s Colin O’Mahony (2008).
• Kerry have won the last five All-Ireland junior football championships (2015 to 2019). There have been eleven different North Kerry starters in those victories.
They are Listowel Emmets’
Jack McGuire (2015, 2017),
Ballylongford’s David
Culhane (2015), Knocknagoshel’s James Walsh
(2015), Castleisland
Desmonds’ Thomas
Hickey (2015, 2018), Listowel Emmets’ Conor Cox
(2015, 2017), Ballydonoghue’s Darragh O’Shea
(2016, 2018), Jason
Foley (2016), Brian O
Seanachain (2016), St
Senans’ David Foran
(2016), Brosna’s Eamon
Kiely (2017), Ballydonoghue’s Mitch Foley (2019).