Clifford lends support to Kerry Supporters Club

WHEN it came to deciding who to honour, it really was a no-brainer. Not only was he one of the greatest to ever don the green and gold, he’s also universally recognised as one of the good guys.

When Supporters Club chairman Donie O’Leary proposed him as guest of honour for this year’s social he was met with unanimous approval. Everyone agreed that if there was one guy who deserved to be honoured it was Denis ‘Ogie’ Moran.

“I contacted Ogie and I put the proposition to him for being our guest of honour this year for our social and he said he was thrilled and honoured to accept the invitation,” O’Leary explains.

“He was a minor when I was a selector in 1974 and that was Ogie’s last year a minor. Ogie played minor in ‘72, ‘73 and ‘74. Ogie and David Clifford and Killian Spillane are probably the three best minors we ever had in the county and hopefully we’ll have the three of them under the one roof on the 28th.

“Ogie captained Gormanston to win an All Ireland. I’d say the only All Ireland colleges final they ever won and David captained St Brendans to win an All Ireland Hogan Cup so both of them are coming from the same direction.

“I hope David’s career and Killian’s career will go on for as long as Ogie’s went on. He’s a holder of eight All Ireland senior medals, there are only five in the county with those and that’s a unique honour, probably never again to be reached in this county anyway.

“He won eight senior All Irelands and I think he was beaten in two more and in every winning Kerry team we had he always wore the number 11 jersey and the two years he didn’t wear it was the two years they were beaten!

“So that number 11 jersey was a sign of luck for Ogie anyway and it was a sign of luck for Kerry. So we hope that we’ll have a good turn out at the social and everyone will come out and honour him because he’s definitely one of Kerry’s greatest.

“I saw him playing in the county final against Mid Kerry and he was only fifteen and he was marking Brendan Lynch and Brendan was an established player on the Kerry team then and he played left half-back for Shannon Rangers in the county final and I think Shannon Rangers won it.

“So now if that isn’t good enough to bring in the crowds I don’t know what is!”

As ever it promises to be a great night at the Ballygarry Hotel. As O’Leary mentioned, Kerry minor captain David Clifford will be an honoured guest as will Kerry junior captain Killian Spillane and their respective managers, Peter Keane and Jimmy Keane.

Kerry Under 21 captain Darragh Shanahan and his manager Ian Brick will also be in attendance. Kerry’s sole 2017 All Star Paul Geaney will also be honoured.

“The following day Kerry play Donegal in Killarney so we’re hoping that you’ll have quite a number of Kerry people travelling and what better way to start off the first match in the league than having a good old sing-song and a celebration the night before and moving on then to Killarney the following day and having a good game against Donegal. There should be a good crowd that are out of the county coming back for the weekend and make the long weekend out of it,” club secretary John King says.

Interest in Kerry football is sure to reach a fever pitch in 2018 with Eamonn Fitzmaurice building a new team out of some really exciting new talent coming through the ranks.

“We have plenty demand for seats going to Mayo, emails, people getting on to us on Facebook, when is the bus travelling, that sort of thing,” King explains.

“We also have good demand for the trip to Monaghan the following weekend, which is a bit unfortunate to have two matches one week after the next. So you’ve two away trips and it’s a bit much to expect people that would be working to get somebody who was working to get somebody to cover them two Saturdays on-the-trot.

“We’re going up and down on the day to Mayo and we’ll do the weekend in Monaghan.”

“It’s great to get back on the road again,” PRO Martin Leane adds.

“Again our transport will be provided by Kennedy Coaches in Annascaul and we’re indebted there to Paddy and Ann and Patrick Kennedy for providing us with excellent transport and their drivers are second to none.

“Coming up to the All Ireland last year we were indebted to them the way they looked after us going to Croke Park and always they give us a huge sponsorship for our social.” The 28th annual Kerry GAA Supporters Club Social will take place on Saturday, January 27 at the Ballygarry House Hotel in Tralee. Doors close at 7.30pm with music to follow from the Neilly O’Connor Band. Tickets cost €35 and are available from committee members.