THE BEST 15 KERRY PLAYERS TO WIN AN ALL-IRELAND CLUB SFC MEDAL
GIVEN Kerry’s unrivalled football success on the inter-county scene - 37 senior All-Irelands, 10 U-21 titles, 16 minor All-Irelands and 20 Junior Championships (top of the list in three of those grades and second in U-21) - it’s always a case of wonder as to why the county sits only joint-fourth on the roll of honour for All-Ireland Club senior football titles.
Needless to say, lying jointfourth in a list of 32 counties (and just three titles off claiming outright second place) is no mean feat; and given that just 13 counties have produced an All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship winner (only eight counties have laid claim to the title more than once) it’s fair to say that Kerry has long been one of the top producers of eminent and excellent club teams over the last 50 years.
Indeed, when the All-Ireland Senior Club Championship came into being in 1970/71, it’s perhaps no surprise that the first title came to the Kingdom courtesy of then Kerry champions East Kerry, who had just completed a hat trick of county titles.
East Kerry’s emphatic 5-9 to 2-7 All-Ireland Final win over Bryansford from Down was, perhaps, the reason why the very next year divisional teams were outlawed from competing in the All-Ireland Club Championship, but there’s no doubt but that team set a standard that every club since has tried to emulate.
If Nemo Rangers (seven titles) and Crossmaglen Rangers (six titles) are the pre-eminent clubs in the competition, there’s no argument but that Corofin is the standout team, with the Galway outfit having won the Andy Merrigan Cup in 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020 (as well as their first title back in 1998).
An interesting metric, which puts the standard of Kerry clubs in a more favourable light, is the fact that more different Kerry teams have won the All-Ireland Club SFC than any other county.
Although Cork lead the roll of honour with 11 titles, they have been shared by just three clubs - Nemo (7), St Finbarrs (3) and O’Donovan Rossa.
Dublin - second on the roll of honour - has had their eight All-Ireland titles secured by just four clubs: St Vincents (3), UCD and Kilmacud Crokes (2 each) and Ballyboden St Enda’s.
Corofin have accounted for five of Galway’s seven titles, with Caltra and Salthill/Knocknacarra winning one each.
The aforementioned Crossmaglen Rangers have won all six of the club titles that have gone to Armagh.
By contrast, Kerry have had five different clubs/districts to be crowned All-Ireland Club champions, which, it might be argued, suggests the strength of Kerry’s club football is at least on a par, if not stronger, than any other county.
It also says much for how success, or not, in the All-Ireland Club SFC doesn’t run along the same form lines as the inter-county SFC, with Antrim, Limerick and Wicklow clubs winning All-Ireland Club titles, but the Andy Merrigan Cup has never made its way to Meath, Tyrone or Donegal.
Those six Kerry teams - East Kerry (1971), Austin Stacks (1977), Castleisland Desmonds (1985), Laune Rangers (1996) and Dr Crokes (1992 and 2017) - had some of the game’s greatest and most successful players, many of who wore the green and gold of Kerry and won plenty of honours with the county team too.
It got us thinking about the best 15 Kerry men to have won an All-Ireland Club senior football medal and who got to raise the Andy Merrigan Cup over their heads (though the 1971 East Kerry team received a shield at the time as the Merrigan Cup wasn’t first present until 1974).
We’ve endeavoured to compile a ‘Best 15’ team, drawing from the six All-Ireland winning teams, and we have tried to base it as much on the players’ performances in that winning club team as much as their wider reputation as a footballer over their career, including with Kerry, where applicable.
As with all these ‘Best Of’ teams all choices fall somewhere between objectivity and subjectivity, and it’s never a perfect science when one is comparing across generations, and in this case, teams and players 46 years apart in some instances.
Anyway, here goes...