The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Remembering a Kerry legend
TO witness the unveiling of a statue commemorating your father was bound to be emotional. Máirín Egan, daughter of the late Kerry legend John Egan, prepared for that from the moment a local fundraising group promised they would bring a statue of her six-time All-Ireland-winning father to Sneem.
What she hadn’t expected was a crowd as massive as the one that came to Sneem to see the beautiful Alan Hall-sculpted statue’s unveiling on Saturday. Granted, the weather was perfect for the occasion, and her father’s achievements on the field inspired people from all counties of the country, but this was still a turnout of epic proportions for a rural Kerry village.
“The crowd was so big that Marty Morrissey, who very kindly attended, felt compelled to take a photo and share it on Twitter. He was looking out an ocean of people,” Máirín said.
“People came from all over to honour Dad and many decided to make a weekend of it. For example, his classmates from Carraig na bhFear school in Cork scheduled their class reunion for Sneem to coincide with the unveiling. That was typical of the weekend; from Friday to Sunday, so many people I’d never met before told me stories about Dad – and they certainly weren’t limited to his footballing days!”
The fundraising campaign behind the €35,000 statue began in April 2016, but the John Egan Memorial Fund committee, chaired by Tim O’Sullivan, also organised a whole roster of events to complement Saturday’s main event. The day began with an under-14 blitz in Sneem and Dromore, and that competition and all the events that followed left Máirín astounded.
“After watching some future Kerry stars playing in the blitz, there was a big-screen presentation of Dad’s golden moments and a few words from Kerry stars, Sneem stars, stars from all over. The unveiling of the statue followed, and it was so emotional for all of my family to see how much Dad meant to so many people.”
Aidan O’Mahony, Tadhg Morley, Stephen O’Brien, Eoin Liston, Ogie Moran, and Pat Spillane were just some of the Kerry stars of the past and present to call to the South Square to honour Egan, with Mick O’Dwyer, Niall Cahalane, Jimmy Deenihan and Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh unveiling the statue in front of hundreds.
Greats from outside the county also made the trip to Sneem, including Offaly heroes Seán Kavanagh and Seamus Darby, and many of the famous Dublin panel that faced John in his heydey.
“The Offaly lads presented the infamous 1982 ball to us, the one that Seamus drove to the net to break Kerry’s five-ina-row dream. Seamus actually dropped the ball as he handed it to Mom, but I couldn’t help but wish he’d done that 35 years ago!” Máirín chuckled.
“In all seriousness though, that ball was a piece of Offaly GAA history so for them to gift us something they value so much was an amazing gesture.
“My family and I would like to thank everyone who made the day a fitting tribute to Dad, including the unflappable Eamon Egan, Tim O’Sullivan, Alan Hall, all of the committee, those who donated, and everyone who visited, including TV stars Marty Morrissey and Lucy Kennedy. I think a lot more people will call to Sneem again after the amazing weekend they had.”
To relive the weekend, you can order a copy of “The Week- end of John Egan Statue Unveiling”, which was filmed by CR Videos. The final DVD will document the build up to the weekend, footage of Sneem, the weekend’s interviews, the unveiling itself, and a tribute sung by Stephanie Cahill. You can contact CR Videos at (087) 9226284 or by emailing crvideos@ hotmail.com.
You can still donate to ‘The John Egan Memorial Fund’, care of Sneem GAA, Sneem, County Kerry. Any queries can be directed to Tim O’Sullivan, whose number is (086) 855 9283.
‘Seamus [Darby] presented us the 1982 ball. It was an amazing gesture by the Offaly GAA’