100 Reasons why Kerry are the Kings of Football


100 Reasons why Kerry are the Kings of Football


by T.J. Flynn, who co-wrote Princes of Pigskin

  1. The Miltown Massacre.
     
  2. Mikey Sheehy's chip in 1978.
     
  3. Con Houlihan's description of said chip in The Evening Press. 'Mike Sheehy was running up to take the kick - and suddenly Paddy dashed back towards his goal like a woman who smells a cake burning ... Paddy crashed into the outside of the net and lay against it like a fireman who had returned to find his station ablaze'.
     
  4. Charlie Nelligan weighed 15 and three quarter pounds at birth. Had he been born elsewhere, a career in sumo would have beckoned. Kerry slimmed him down and he gathered seven All Ireland medals.
     
  5. Six players on the Millenium team.
     
  6. 32 All Irelands.
     
  7. 69 Munster Championships.
     
  8. 91 All Stars.
     
  9. Paidí Sé's centenary final 'hello' to Joe McNally.
     
  10. The proceeds from Kerry's 1913 game went towards the purchase of Jones' Road. Croker is Kerry's second home for more than one reason.
     
  11. Jerome O'Shea's catch in 1955.
     
  12. The Kingdom gives other counties great days out. Waterford in '57, Derry in '58 and Clare in '92.
     
  13. The Ghost Train.
     
  14. The Sean Murphy All Ireland of '59.
     
  15. Eddie Dowling drinking 18 bottles of beer at Rineanna before boarding the plane for The Polo Grounds.
     
  16. Eddie Dowling's brilliance beneath the Manhattan skyline, 1947.
     
  17. Sean Walsh catching Dublin clouds in 1979
     
  18. Kerry have better nicknames.
     
  19. The Bracker.
     
  20. Gega.
     
  21. Purty and Roundy.
     
  22. The Bawn.
     
  23. Aeroplane O'Shea.
     
  24. Ogie - the only man to win eight All Irelands in the one position.
     
  25. Der Bomber - The Bearded Giant from Ballybunion.
     
  26. Big Ned Roche's culling of Heffo in '55. Kerry strike a blow for the culchies.
     
  27. Fitzgerald Stadium hosted an All Ireland.
     
  28. Tadhgie Lyne - The Prince of Forwards.
     
  29. John O'Keeffe - The Prince of Full Back Play.
     
  30. Maurice Fitz.
     
  31. Danno Keeffe and Johnny Foley and the famous horseshoe.
     
  32. The 5 in a Row T-Shirts.
     
  33. Jack O'Shea's goal against Offaly in 1981.
     
  34. A meeting of legends. Con Brosnan and Babe Ruth's handshake in Yankee Stadium.
     
  35. The one pair of boots that carried Ballybunion's Bob Stack to six All Irelands.
     
  36. Bob Stack and Dr Pat O'Callaghan rowing out to Loop Head as part of the latter's Olympic training prior to securing gold in Los Angeles in 1932.
     
  37. Four time All Ireland winner, Eamonn Fitzgerald, missing out on bronze medal in the '32 Olympics Triple Jump by four inches. He'd have won gold only for a dodgy ankle.
     
  38. Mick O'Dwyer's training sessions. The wire to wires, 35 nights in seven weeks, 50 laps a night...
     
  39. John Egan driving to training on a flat tyre. Nobody was late for Micko's training.
     
  40. Paddy Kennedy - the other iron man from Tom Crean country, Annascaul.
     
  41. Kerry's Croke Park demolition of Cork in 2002. As good as it gets.
     
  42. DJ Crowley's goal in 1970.
     
  43. Puke Football will never be played in Kerry
     
  44. The Past V Present game in 1968.
     
  45. Paul Russell was the first wing back to score a point from play.
     
  46. The day Tom Long beat St. Vincents on his own in the Dublin County Final.
     
  47. The Killimer Ferry that allows the good folk of West Clare see decent football.
     
  48. Maurice McCarthy won his first All Ireland in 1903. At 70 years of age he cycled all the way from Tralee to Galway to see his son in Merlin Park Hospital, Galway.
     
  49. Connell.
     
  50. Jimmy O'Brien's pub in Killarney.
     
  51. Maurice Fitzgerald, going eyeball to eyeball with Tommy Carr, then splitting the posts against the Dubs in Thurles.
     
  52. The Sheehys from Boherbee - John Joe, Paidi, Niall and Sean Óg.
     
  53. Tommy Doyle, captain in '86, pushing the four minute mile in Tralee.
     
  54. Was it a push in '82? Yes or no, no complaints.
     
  55. Tom Ashe wore the hoops of Glasgow Celtic.
     
  56. Johnny Culloty's save against Offaly in the '69 final.
     
  57. The Spillanes of Templenoe.
     
  58. The one handed catches of Sean Brosnan.
     
  59. Always check your change in Kerry. They could slip you a celtic cross by mistake.
     
  60. Kerry's answer to David Fairclough. Sean Walsh - The Super Sub.
     
  61. Seamus Murphy's versatility.
     
  62. Bill Dillon and his beagles and storing his bacon in the Sam Maguire.
     
  63. The Rock - Kerry's street of champions.
     
  64. Miko Doyle - Four All Irelands before his 21st birthday.
     
  65. Miko Doyle's haircut.
     
  66. Listowel Race week with Sam on the sideboard.
     
  67. The Joe Keohane Roundabout.
     
  68. The Dan Spring Road.
     
  69. The John Joe Sheehy Road.
     
  70. Dickeen Fitz was the greatest GAA man of them all.
     
  71. Weeshie Fogarty's Terrace Talk.
     
  72. Camp - where there's more All Irelands per head of population than any other village in the country.
     
  73. Jack O'Shea V Brian Mullins.
     
  74. Paddy Bawn against Cork in '52. Prevented those hoors from annihilating us in the Munster Final.
     
  75. Mixie Palmer - great horse, better footballer.
     
  76. The Gerald O'Sullivan photograph versus Mayo in 1951.
     
  77. Aeroplane O'Shea's novel idea of writing a book on the All Irelands Kerry lost.
     
  78. Dick Fitzgerald's book 'How To Play Gaelic Football'.
     
  79. Mick O'Connell's 'A Kerry Footballer'.
     
  80. Dr Eamon O'Sullivan's grasp of tactics.
     
  81. 'If you drink ten pints a night, cut it back to five. If you drink six a night, cut it back to three'. Dr Eamon's winning philosophy.
     
  82. The Dunloe Cup.
     
  83. Footballs role in healing Kerry's Civil War wounds.
     
  84. Caid - what old timers still call football in Kerry.
     
  85. The Boston Beer Party. Prohibition was relaxed in Massachusetts for the Kerry footballers on their US tour of '27.
     
  86. An Muantáin - Europe's most westerly sporting haggard; where Dan Kavanagh first kicked ball.
     
  87. All Ireland winners Kerry gave to other counties : Joe Fitzgerald, captain of Dublin in 1942; Mick Falvey, Dublin '42, and the great Jack Flavin, All Ireland winner with Kerry in '37 and Galway in '38. To name but three.
     
  88. Maurice Fitzgerald's pass to Mike Frank versus Armagh in 2000.
     
  89. The Golden Years video.
     
  90. The Bendix Ad.
     
  91. Keeping the Dublin exiles in shape during the golden years, thanks to Micheál O'Muircheartaigh.
     
  92. Putting manners on The Dipper, Aussie Rules in the 80's.
     
  93. The Shronedraugh Warrior - Seamus Moynahin.
     
  94. Kerry's World Tour to Amsterdam, Turkey, Singapore, Jikata, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, New Zealand, Fiji, Honolulu, San Francisco, Chicago and New York.
     
  95. Kerry had a Tiger before Woods was born. Corner back Tim Tiger Lions.
     
  96. John Kerry O'Donnell. The godfather of New York football.
     
  97. Donie O'Sullivan training with the New York Jets.
     
  98. Paidí O'Sé's All Ireland speech, 1985.
     
  99. Jackie Lyne's quote : 'With them bast**ds of mountains in front of us, and those hoors of lakes behind us, sure there's nothing to do but play football'.
     
  100. The Gooch.
Taken from the Website
http://www.terracetalk.com/articles/Miscellaneous/69/100-Reasons-why-Kerry-are-the-Kings-of-Football
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