Tonight’s the night for Kerry FC

Tonight is a very special night for the Kerry team. No, not the winners of Sam Maguire on this occasion, but Kerry FC who make their debut in the League of Ireland First Division with a sell-out opening match at Mounthawk Park.

Here’s hoping Kerry sports supporters will get behind Billy Dennehy’s squad. They will have 36 league games in all. Dennehy, a great player in his own heyday at local level and as a professional, is the manager and he celebrates his 36th birthday today. Will the dream of a double celebration become reality?

Ivan Hurley, media officer for Kerry FC, informs me that the Kerry U17 team has been playing LOI since 2015 and the longer-term progress will come at U14/15/17/19, feeding its way into the senior team of the future. That long-term plan makes great sense. What about plan plans to develop the soccer game for girls?

“Nothing is really in place yet, but that is a possibility for the future,” Ivan says. It certainly should be, especially since the

Irish women’s soccer team are so prominent and progressing to World Cup status. Apart from the great Charlton years, the Irish men’s team has flattered to deceive and is at a low level nowadays.

Ivan informs me that when the general tickets went on sale last week they were sold out in 12 minutes. That’s great but remember 1,200 is the capacity of Mounthawk Park. A huge amount of work has gone into the preparation of the Kerry soccer HQ. There has also been a huge amount of paperwork to comply with FAI standards. The Open Day at Mounthawk was very encouraging on Sunday last. It promises to be a great occasion in Tralee tonight and here’s wishing Kerry FC every success. They need to play well in their home games to maintain public interest and support. Cobh Ramblers are no great shakes, ending in the lower regions of the division.

Dennehy has signed on a good solid panel including Matt Keane, formerly of Killarney Celtic, who is a fine player with LOI experience. Look out also for squad member Ryan Kelliher, a talented young player from Celtic, and the son of a very talented golfer, Tomás Kelliher. The Premier Division is a long way off, but you must start somewhere.

Growth Of Sport

The GAA is deeply rooted in every parish in Ireland and had a strong nationalist backing when founded in Thurles in 1884. One must appreciate the state of the Irish countryside in the 1800s, whose people survived the Famine and got behind Michael Davitt to get back their native lands from the English landlords, here in Killarney and elsewhere.

Rugby got underway in Ireland circa 1890 and it became the preserve of the Irish middle class and the Anglo-Irish, with a certain perceived snobbish status. Remnants of it remain.

Limerick is more cosmopolitan in its taste in sports. Rugby and hurling dominate, with hurling more to the fore at present with the gaisce John Kiely’s unbeatable team. What is unique about Limerick is that its rugby players come from all social strands.

Soccer catered for the working class and thrived initially in the garrison towns. Naturally, it took root in Tralee, and later in Killarney, officially in 1965 when Garda Dan Harrington founded Killarney Athletic. But impromptu soccer games were on the go unofficially for nearly two decades before that.

Over the decades, I have traced the growth of soccer in these pages, specifically in the greater Killarney area. Briefly, Garda Dan Harrington was the key man in the founding of Killarney Athletic in 1965. The 19-year-old was the catalyst to merge the local teenagers together from ‘The Sandpit’ and other unofficial venues anything but salubrious and founded the club.

As expected, opposition came from some of the local GAA fraternities, but soccer got going. Mikey Daly, Billy Healy and friends got the very successful Killarney Celtic underway in 1976. Ballyhar Dynamos - God rest you, Murt Scott - and Mastergeeha FC followed. Other soccer teams were also founded around Kerry but some floundered. Killarney Athletic boys Diarmuid O’Carroll and Brendan Moloney went on to play professional soccer in England.

Today I think of Billy Doyle, Sossy Mullins, Greg Collins, Mike Looney, Joe Grant, Don Donoghue, Kevin O’Malley and Donie Kelly, who was laid to rest earlier this week. Donie was a great basketball man in the Town Leagues and also a Gaelic player of note. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

MARCHING ON: John Kelleher and his St Brendan's teammates have qualified for yet another Hogan Cup semi-final.