The Kerry branch of the Gaelic Athletic Association was founded in 1888.
Football
History
Kerry are the most successful team in the history of Gaelic football. They have won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship on 35 occasions and the National Football League 18 times, both of which are far more than any other county. The county holds a number of distinctive records in football championship history. Kerry has played in more All-Ireland finals than any other team - 55 in all as of 16 September 2007. They have won more than half of them, which is another record.
The traditional Irish game of caid, from which modern football developed, was especially popular in Kerry. The GAA was formed in 1884 and codified the modern rules of the game, which were soon adopted in Kerry clubs such as Laune Rangers. Despite this, the county team did not win an All-Ireland football championship in the nineteenth century. The 1903 title was the first won by Kerry, and their exceptional success in the game began in this period, continuing up to the present day.
The Kerry team of the 1970s and 1980s is considered to be arguably the greatest in the history of football and its manager (Mick O'Dwyer) the greatest of all time. Of the 20 All-Ireland finals held during those two decades, Kerry participated in 12, with victory coming on 9 occasions. During this time most other finals were won by Dublin, and there was a major rivalry between the two counties especially during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1982 Kerry came within one minute of winning an unprecedented fifth All-Ireland title in a row. However a late goal by Offaly's Séamus Darby which caused controversy (as many claim Darby pushed the Kerry defender in the back) gave the title to Offaly. This goal was voted third in a poll to find the Top 20 GAA Moments.
Towards the end of the 1980s Kerry went into decline and did not appear in an All-Ireland final for 11 years, between1986 and 1997. The 1997 victory, however, very much marked the beginning of another golden era for Kerry. Of the last 11 All-Irelands, Kerry have contested 7 and won 5. Some have spoken of teams like Armagh and Tyrone, who have both beaten Kerry in recent finals, as successors to Kerry's reign. However, Kerry have come back time and again and have won the last two championships, in 2006 and 2007. Kerry beat Armagh comprehensively in the 2006 championship; however they have not met Tyrone in the championship since 2005. Kerry became the first team since Cork to win back to back All Irelands in the 2007 championship by demolishing their Munster rivals by a scoreline of 3-13 to 1-09. They have now won half of the All Irelands played in the last decade.
Kerry Football Squad
Notable individuals
- Mick O'Connell
- Mick O'Dwyer
- Joe Keohane
- Sean Murphy
- Jack O'Shea
- John Egan
- Ger Power
- John O'Keeffe
- Maurice Fitzgerald
- Seamus Moynihan
- Joe Barrett
- Páidí Ó Sé
- Dick Fitzgerald
8 time Senior All-Ireland winners
- Dan O'Keefe first player to win 7 all-Ireland medals.
- Pat Spillane
- Mikey Sheehy
- Páidí Ó Sé
- Ogie Moran
- Ger Power
Honours
- All-Ireland Senior Football Championships: 35
- 1903, 1904, 1909, 1913, 1914, 1924, 1926, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1962, 1969, 1970, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007
- All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championships: 10
- All-Ireland Minor Football Championships: 11
- All-Ireland Junior Football Championships: 14
- National Football Leagues: 18
- 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1997, 2004, 2006
- Munster Senior Football Championships: 72
- 1892, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1919, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007
- Munster Under-21 Football Championships: 25
- 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2008
- Munster Minor Football Championships: 40
- 1931, 1932, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006,2008
- Munster Junior Football Championships: 38
- 1913, 1914, 1915, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1941, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1983, 1985, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008
- Railway Cup Football: 2
- 1927(all Kerry players), 1931(all Kerry players)
(Note that the Railway Cup is contested by provincial sides - these are years in which the Munster team consisted entirely of Kerry players).
Ladies' Football
Honours
- All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championships: 11
- All-Ireland Minor Ladies' Football Championship: 3
Hurling
Kerry's first All-Ireland championship win was in hurling. Only club teams were allowed in 1891, so Kilmoyley club, a team from North Kerry, disbanded and joined up with Ballyduff so that their joint team could win the All-Ireland. This remains Kerry's only hurling title. After the game the rules were changed to allow selected county teams in the Championship.Kerry's most notable hurling achievement in recent times occurred in the 1993 Munster championship when John Meyler's Kerry team shocked Waterford GAA by a score of 4-13 to 3-13. It was reward for years of progress which included a draw with Kilkenny in the National Hurling League. Kerry followed it up in 1995 with their most famous ever League victory, a win over newly crowned All-Ireland champions Clare.
2003 was the most recent progress when the team made it to the 4th round of the qualifiers only to go down to Limrick 1-14 tp 0-24 in Austin Stack Park in Tralee. Along the way the beat Westmeath, Carlow and beaten Ulster finalists Derry. The wins over Westmeath and Carlow was the first time a Kerry team won 2 Championship games in a row.
Kerry Hurling Squad
Honours
B 2006
- All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championships: 1 B 2006
- All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championships: 2
- National Hurling Leagues: None
- Munster Senior Hurling Championships: 1
- Munster Under-21 Hurling Championships: None
- Munster Minor Hurling Championships: None
- Munster Junior Hurling Championships: 1
- 1956
Stadia
- FitzGerald Stadium, Killarney - home venue for the Senior football team
- Austin Stack Park, Tralee
Club Titles
- Kerry Senior Football Championship
- Kerry Senior Hurling Championship
- Kerry Intermediate Football Championship
- Kerry Junior Football Championship
- Kerry Novice Football Championship
- Kerry Minor Football Championship
- Kerry Under-21 Football Championship
- Kerry County Football League - Division 1
See also
List of Kerry All-Ireland Football FinalsReferences
External links
- Kerry on Hoganstand.com
- National and provincial titles won by Kerry teams
- Club championship winners
- Kerry GAA site
- Causeway GAA site Hurling club from North Kerry
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Friday July 25, 2008 at 05:54:25 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation
Copyright © 2008, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.