Hello
When County Convention of 1924 adopted a Listowel motion calling for the setting up of Divisional Boards to promote Hurling and Football all over Kerry, the stage was set for eighty six exciting years and eighty six tumultuous years in North Kerry.
Maurice McGrath, the then Postmaster of Listowel was the genius behind the motion and it was fitting that he should be the first President of a North Kerry Board. Six Clubs affiliated for the new League, Ballydonoghue, Ballylongford, Duagh, Faha, Listowel and Moyvane. Five pound grant was given to each team, five sets of jersies were to be obtained, Listowel having their own already and the winners were to get a set of gold medals while the runners up received a football. The competition was won by Moyvane in that famous match known as the “North Kerry All Ireland”. But it was not the first league in North Kerry. In 1918/20 leagues had been run under the aegis of a league Board set up under the auspices of Listowel club. Listowel won the 1918 league, and Dromlought (Ballydonoghue) that of 1919/20.
Many players brought themselves to the notice of the County selectors through playing in the North Kerry League, and when Maurice McGrath died in 1928 other hands took up his work, and steered the Board through the bitterness which was engendered in the early 30s, the difficulties of the “Emergency” and the emigration of the 50s.
Junior, Minor and Intermediate competitions were played, and in the 1950s Juvenile competition begun, and have been extended to the different age groups over the years. The original six clubs are now seventeen and the 31 games of 1924 have grown to almost 300. But the games are still as keenly contested as ever, even though the pitch invasions and the melees which lasted for half an hour are thankfully less common than former years.
Yes, the spirit and the dedication are still there, and a North Kerry Senior Medal is the pride of any players collection.
