Super Saints Brian Kerr
A life through music... From the pages of
Super Saints Brian Kerr Johnny Keegan
A life through music...Part I It’s Saturday morning following a disappointing result to Drogheda the night before, and neither Brian or myself are in the best of form, truth be told. But as is often the case, music has the power to pick you up and brighten your day. As most Pat’s fans will know, music plays a big part in Brian’s life, whether that’s at home listening to his favourite albums, tuning in to late night radio programmes after a busy work day, or attending new music gigs across the city; and it’s not long before Brian warms up and the stories start to flow.
GOOD VIBRATIONS
“So, I landed in Acton. My
in that apartment. And I had
brother was working in a pub The year was 1966. Kerr’s
called The Gunnersbury
the lovely task on contacting
eldest brother, Frankie, was
Arms, and interestingly, he
them and telling them that I
living in London, and
was living with three girls at
wanted to meet them in
knowing of his younger
the time in an apartment. I
London in 2011.”
brother’s love of football,
always had this image of the
Frankie called home to invite
apartment being huge…
13-year-old Brian over to
Frankie died in 2010, and
experience the World Cup in
this is an interesting story, he
person.
left a few quid to two of
“We were real posh at that time, we had a phone,” Brian jokes. “We were posh in that we had a phone, that was it, but we had it because my two brothers were away. It was arranged for me to go to London within a day or two.”
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those girls. He married one of them, and they lived in London for most of their lives, but his wife died and we got him back to Dublin, but he didn’t last long, he was only around for about a year after that. The other two girls were still alive and living
“I went to see them and the apartment was quite small,” Brian laughs. “I had this image from when I was a kid of this lovely big apartment
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Tyrrell, brought a copy of The Beatles Abbey Road to training. “Somehow or other he had a record player in the dressing room, and I remember us listening to it before training, after training, and being fascinated by it. I thought the album was beautiful. ‘Here Comes the Sun’, with three bedrooms in it. I associate that
‘Come Together’, ‘Maxwell's Silver
time with Good Vibrations. The Beach Boys
Hammer’, there’s a lot of great songs on it. I
were the deal. Still to this day, for most
was doing my Leaving Cert that year,
people, Good Vibrations gives everyone a
managing Crumlin United U16s as well as
lift. I still play a Beach Boys CD every now
playing for Shelbourne, and I associate
and again in the groove of a lovely, sunny
Abbey Road with that time.”
summer’s day. As a kid that time was really exciting, but the memories stick.” ABBEY ROAD
ZEROES “Ollie Byrne, Lord rest him, he used to have a place called Zeroes on the top of Mary
Already a young season ticket holder with
Street, it was a mad place altogether, real
his beloved St. Patrick’s Athletic, attending
nightclub stuff, it was like an upstairs
a host of World Cup games across London
warehouse that was cleared out on a
in ‘66, including the final at Wembley,
Saturday night… He’d have big blow
fuelled Brian’s obsession and love for the
heaters to keep the place warm, and there
beautiful game even further. By the time he
was carpet on the floor, old couches… But
was a young adult, every spare minute was
the music would’ve been different, and I
spent playing, watching or managing, and
loved it, there was a great atmosphere.
that never really changed. While playing for
Ollie knew that I was playing for
Shelbourne at the time, a teammate, Dessie
Shelbourne U17s or youth team on a
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Super Saints Brian Kerr Johnny Keegan
Sunday morning, but I didn’t
stuff. But the gig was
shirt, and he’d say ‘Thanks
drink at all, and he wouldn’t
sensational. I never lost that
very much! It’s great to be
say anything. He was a
feeling, and I saw him play
back in Dublin. Here’s a little
promoter around that time.”
loads of times. I walked
song I’m going to play for
behind him one day in a
you.’ And away he’d go!”
RORY GALLAGHER “One of the players I had at Crumlin United when I was 17 or 18, he said to me that he couldn’t come training. ‘What do you mean you can’t come
street in London and I was too starstruck to say hello to
Brian is beaming at this point,
him. But I saw enough of him
impersonating Gallagher and
in relatively small venues to
describing the energy as if it
get to know the personality of
was yesterday.
him. He’s one of my heroes.”
“He’d go like that for an hour
training?’ ‘I’m going to see a
Brian picks up a copy of
and a half, then he’d slow it
bloke called Rory Gallagher.’
Wheels Within Wheels, a
down a bit and play the
Now he’s only two years
posthumous release
acoustic guitar or mandolin or
younger than me but I’m
comprising of lost Rory
banjo, and the place would
manager of the team. So, I
Gallagher recordings and
just go silent, you could hear
changed the training and got
outtakes, featuring a plethora
every word, every movement
tickets myself. I already knew
of well-known musicians,
on the string of the
Rory Gallagher from listening
amongst them, The Dubliners.
instrument. And then he’d be
to the old Radio Caroline
off again,” Brian laughs. “And “I remember talking to
there was three hours of it. It
Ronnie Drew a few times. I
was just incredible. And then
asked him what Rory was like.
at the end of it, he was just
And he just confirmed what I
the most humble looking
already thought about him,
bloke, he looked like he was
that he was a lovely shy fella.
amazed that people liked it.”
But the place when he played, it was just electric. He’d come running out, the hair flowing, the checked
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Ronan O’Flaherty @johnnykeegan
PHIL LYNOTT & THIN LIZZY “I was managing the Irish Technical Colleges team, this
one with the big shamrock on
he was from. ‘I’m from
it, he’s sitting there in that
Ireland. I’m from Dublin. I’m
and a leather jacket. And I
from Crumlin. I’m from
have me Bob Marley album
Leighlin Road’. You look at
and me bag. I went over and
Irish society now and where
said ‘Howiya. You wouldn’t
we’ve got to go to. If he was
mind signing that?’ And he
on the go now, what an
says ‘Where were ya?’ ‘I was
inspiration he’d be for all
over here at a match with a
these young new artists that
team,’ So he signs it. A Bob
are coming on the scene now
Marley album signed by Phil
from a different Irish
Lynott! It sounds cool, doesn’t
background, the likes of
it. I still have it downstairs.”
Denise Chaila and Tolü
was around 1982, and we
Makay. But the excitement of
were playing in a tournament
“I like all Thin Lizzy stuff. If I
his live gigs, and then the
in Germany. I was coming
had to do my all-time top ten,
softer side to him, it was such
back a day late on me own,
Old Town would be in there,
a deadly mixture. I loved
flying out of Hamburg. That
without a doubt. It’s my kind
him.”
morning I’d rambled around a
of summer in Dublin song.
record shop and bought a
Philo walking around town,
Bob Marley album.”
looking cool, looking smart, winking at the girls,
“So, I’m walking through the airport and I see Philo, and he’s getting the same plane back to Dublin as me. You know that bit where you’re
walking across the Ha’penny Bridge, that whole video, the image… It was just a perfect Irish, Dublin song.”
sitting around where you board, he’s sitting there, an
“Philo always said ‘I’m
Irish football jersey on him,
black and I’m Irish’ when
the old one, the plain green
people asked him where
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Super Saints Brian Kerr Johnny Keegan
A life through music...Part II We begin part two of Brian Kerr – A Life Through Music in 1990. Brian is in his fourth full season in charge of the club. We’re playing in Harold’s Cross, and on a shoestring budget, Brian has assembled a squad featuring the likes of Curtis Fleming, Johnny McDonnell, Pat Fenlon, Paul Osam, Damien Byrne and Mark Ennis. But it’s Paul ‘Nudger’ Nugent, his player/assistant manager at the time, who springs to mind when the subject turns to music. PAUL NUGENT
to The Blue Nile for a couple of years. They were a bit of a cult band, Scottish, from
“I was up seeing Paul yesterday, in
Glasgow.”
Marymount in Lucan. Paul had been unwell and was being cared for in Scotland. And
THE BLUE NILE & PAUL BUCHANAN
thanks to the generosity and hard work of a few good people, we got him back here. We
“Big Derek McGuinness, who a lot of people
had him down in Inchicore at a game not too
would know from doing security at Pat’s,
long ago, and we’re hoping that there’ll be a
Shelbourne and Ireland games over the years,
bit of a reunion at some stage in the near
Derek does the door in Vicar Street, he’s a
future between us all.”
lovely, lovely fella. I’d be in Vicar Street a good bit. One night The Blue Nile are playing
“Paul knew that I liked music, and we often
and Derek comes up to me and says “You like
talked about it back then. He was a bit
these, don’t you? Would you like to meet
younger than me, well about six or seven
your man after it?” I went in, the lads are
years younger, and he was always very cool,
sitting around having a beer after the show,
his brother was in a band, and Paul always
and someone introduces me to Paul
had a haircut… He’s a stylish fella. One day he
Buchanan. “You’re the football bloke,” Paul
says to me “Have you ever heard of The Blue
says to me. You don’t know what to say to
Nile?” “The Blue Nile! Yeah, of course.” I
these people. He was the loveliest fella. I was
couldn’t believe it, because I’d been listening
made up to meet him.”
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2021 Season • Vol. 33 • No.07 • St Patrick’s Athletic v DUNDALK
Ronan O’Flaherty @johnnykeegan
It’s funny to imagine Kerr like this, roles
satisfaction of a personal achievement for
reversed, stuck for words, not knowing
me and the team, it was about being a fan
what to say when faced with another of his
and sharing it with everyone else.”
musical heroes. “’A Walk Across the Rooftops’ is still one of my favourite songs. The Blue Nile have lasted the test of time for me, and I associate them with Pat’s and 1990, driving to away games and feeling good. I remember driving up to Dundalk, hoping for a draw between them and Derry, I think. It was a draw, and I remember driving back and playing the Blue Nile, feeling good, thinking that this is going our way.” Things did go our way that year, and Kerr delivered the club’s first major silverware since 1961. It meant the world to Brian. “I was the fan managing the team. That Easter Monday in Drogheda when we won the league, the joy was unconfined. It was extraordinary, we beat UCD 4-0 on the Sunday and then had to play in Drogheda on Monday, two days in-a-row. I’d never seen Pat’s win anything. It was an honest joy on my part, it wasn’t just the self-
2021 Season • Vol. 33 • No.07 • St Patrick’s Athletic v DUNDALK
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Super Saints Brian Kerr Johnny Keegan
ROBERT MILES & 1996
mad run down the touchline, giving it a little bit of a dance,” Brian pumps the fists and
“The night we won the league in Dundalk, the
laughs in a similar fashion to back then.
game wasn’t on tele, but RTÉ had a camera plonked on the touchline beside us, it was on
I SAID MAYBE…
us most of the time, and I remember saying to Cyril Walsh at half time, “Cyril do us a favour
“We eventually got back to Inchicore at about
and push that bleedin camera down the line
one in the morning. I remember Jason Byrne
away from me, it’s doing me head in.”
going, “Sure we won’t get in anywhere now.” So, we throw the gear into 125 and we walked
“As you know, Paul ‘Soupy’ Campbell scored
down to the Horse & Jockey. You can hear the
that famous goal, stuck it right up in
noise form it. And
the top corner, and I went
here’s us, the team
mad. I didn’t always show
that just won the
a lot of emotion when we
league, knocking on
scored, I always felt that
the window trying to
there was enough time left
get in,” Brian is in
and the opposition might
hysterics recalling a
score. But when he scored
famous night that
that goal, I knew that was
carried on well into
it, they were down to ten
the next morning.
men… All the pent-up emotion of those years…
“The door opens,
Harold’s Cross. Are we ever
and about ten
going to get back? Did we make a mistake?
blokes fall out, the door was keeping them in.
The receivership. The liquidation. All those
So, we pile in, what a night! Soupy sang
times. The heartache. Fighting with the various
Wonderwall, the Oasis song, an acapella
chairmen and owners between 1990 and
version, everyone singing along for the chorus,
1993/94, until we got back to Inchicore and
it was brilliant! Ricky O’Flaherty did an Irish
Tim O’Flaherty took a hold of things. That all
dance too, he had two pints, one in each
came out when Soupy scored. I went on a
hand, and never spilled a drop.”
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2021 Season • Vol. 33 • No.07 • St Patrick’s Athletic v DUNDALK
Ronan O’Flaherty @johnnykeegan
“Anyway,” Brian laughs. We’ve taken the
over the fourth goal being offside. I went
scenic route, but we get back to Robert
mad, ran amuck at them at half time. It got
Miles…
worse in the second half. Johnny McDonnell scored an OG from near the halfway line over
“The first thing on Saturday Sport was going
on the right-hand side, put it over Gareth
to be a review of the season, and they played
Byrne’s head. We got a penalty and Dave
Robert Miles’ ‘Children’ to a string of all our
Campbell missed it…”
goals, finishing with Soupy scoring and me running down the touchline like a madman. It
“It’s because of things like that, that my
was an iconic night in terms of the club. After
attachment to Pat’s is unbreakable. And
that, driving to matches with the kids in the
anything that I’ve given anyone has been
car, I’d always play Robert Miles and it always
given back, a hundred-fold, in the respect,
brought a smile to everyone’s face.”
loyalty and goodness that people show me. I look at what’s happening now, the work
THROUGH THICK & THIN “I’ve been lucky enough to manage teams that I’ve dreamt about as a kid. When I used to go to watch Pat’s as a kid, I used to think that the manager was this celestial person,
going on in the club with Garett, the directors and volunteers, the great community work being done under the radar, that’s what we need to be doing, we needed to come back to being that community club.”
someone who could do magical things. Imagine going to games in Inchicore and dreaming of being the manager of Pat’s, and ending up doing it, it really was the stuff of dreams for me.” “To get ten years as manager of Pat’s, without a day of the crowd booing,” Brian jokes, recalling a heavy defeat to Cobh in Inchicore. “5-0! And the crowd didn’t boo. I remember Paddy Eccles giving the linesman a hard time 2021 Season • Vol. 33 • No.07 • St Patrick’s Athletic v DUNDALK
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Super Saints Brian Kerr Johnny Keegan
A life through music...Part III May 1st, 1998, Buckley Park. Colin Hawkins has equalised after Michael Reddy opened the scoring in Kilkenny. Dundalk are beating Shelbourne. They’ve blown it, but we still need a goal. Brian Kerr is in Dunblane, Scotland, with the Irish U16 team, a fancy radio glued to his ear. His right-hand-man, Noel O’Reilly, is doublejobbing with Pat’s and the FAI, and has flown back to be with Pat Dolan and the team in Kilkenny. “We played Scotland,
Up steps Eddie Gormley.
“Noel used to sing a myriad
Denmark and Portugal in the
Pandemonium, in both
of Bob Dylan songs, but
group, and there was a little
Kilkenny and the hotel room
particularly at tournaments
break, so Noel went back. I
in Dunblane.
he would always sing ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’
bought a fancy radio because I was travelling so much at that time, so I could hear a bit of news while I was away. So, we’re listening to the match on the radio in Dunblane, and the room is full of fellas with an interest
It would turn out to be quite a few weeks for Brian Kerr and Noel O’Reilly, as their U16 side overcame Italy in the final to make history and win the European Championship.
in the league: Andy Reid,
KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S
John O’Shea, Jim Goodwin,
DOOR
Graham Barrett, Keith Foy. At
with all the lads joining in. It was always so appropriate and magical because we always felt we were in a great place, and that we were in with a shout of winning medals.” “The work was busy, the work was hard,” Brian admits.
one stage I’m hanging out
If Brian and Noel were
“Trying to always be positive,
the window, aerial stretched,
together, music was never
keeping everybody in good
trying to listen to Gabriel
too far away. And it played
form, it’s not always easy to
Egan, I think it was, in
an integral role in creating a
do that, you’ve always got to
Kilkenny, and all the lads are
positive atmosphere in all of
be the one out there fixing
in the room,”
Kerr’s squads over the years,
things and making sure that
particularly at international
everyone is ok. We’d have
tournaments.
matches and training,
Brian laughs.
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Ronan O’Flaherty @johnnykeegan
matches and training. We’d get the players
to sing a song for each team in the
to bed at half ten, and then we’d go and
tournament from their own country.” One
have a drink and relax with the staff.”
night he sang a song from Belgium by The Singing Nun called ‘Dominique’ or
“Pauric Carney, a great Pat’s fan, he was the kitman, he’d say “Noel, get the guitar.” “Ah, no, no,” Noel would say. Pauric would get the master key and go to Noel’s room and get the guitar and leave it beside Noel. This could be Tel Aviv, St. Petersburg, Chisinau, Ayia Napa, Reykjavik, and the guitar would be out. There’d be loads of people around and they’d all slowly start to mooch over. The teams we’d be playing against the next day,
something like that,” Brian laughs. “But we all knew the tune of it ourselves, it was one of those mad songs that got into the charts in the 60s or 70s. But Noel could do that, he could come up with anything, and the blokes sitting around would all be loving it. I remember him teaching Andy Reid how to play ‘Ride On’ by Christy Moore on the guitar in Dunblane with all the other players sitting around. They were great times.”
their staff would be sitting around with us. Extraordinary scenes!” THE SINGING NUN “I remember we were playing Germany in
On the back of numerous historic successes with the FAI underage sides, Kerr was appointed manager of the senior international men’s team in January 2003.
the European Finals in Sweden in 1999, and Horst Hrubesch and Uli Stielike, who played for West Germany in the 80s, fantastic players, and they’re mooching around behind Noel with smiles on their faces listening to Noel playing anything from Christy Moore and Christie Hennessy to Elvis and The Beatles, Lonnie Donegan, U2, you name it.” “Some nights Noel used to challenge himself. There might be eight teams in the tournament and he’d say “Right, we’re going
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Super Saints Brian Kerr Johnny Keegan
MAMMA MIA “One of the frustrations I used to have from going to the Ireland matches over the years was the music they’d play before the match in the stadium. So, I got stuck into that and insisted on certain songs being played: a couple of U2 songs, Rory Gallagher, Aslan, Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, and that’s still being played these days.” Previous managers used to bring the Ireland squad to the pictures to help them relax before games. Brian, of course, wanted to take a different approach. “I used to bring them to the Olympia to see the likes of Brendan O’Carroll and stuff like that, more cultural things. Now, the likes of Gary Breen, Kevin Kilbane and Clinton Morrison would’ve been like “Who the fuck is this fella?” They wouldn’t have known him at all at that time.” “Another time I brought them to Mamma Mia. Of course, they were all like “What the fuck is this, ABBA…?” But once they got into the show that all
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changed,” Brian laughs. “At the half-time break they asked us would we go backstage to meet the cast? And the actors are all bowing to the lads. Fair enough, we had a good team, but The Point was full to see them, not us. The show was brilliant, and they’re all asking the players to sign t-shirts for them, and I’m thinking to myself “No, this is wrong.” “The arrangement was for us to leave once the encore started, get the bus out of the car park nice and easy so we’d avoid the crowd and get back to the hotel early enough. But the encore started and I couldn’t get the lads out, they’re all up on their feet giving it loads to ‘Waterloo’ and ‘Money, Money, Money’, and there’s no shifting them. We were supposed to go out a side door by the stage, but no. It was great.”
MADE IN DUBLIN “Another night I got Aslan to play in the hotel for the team. I asked them to come in and do an acoustic set, a few songs after we had the dinner one night. A big van arrives in the afternoon with the whole lot, all the gear, lights, stage, everything. So, there’s 24 of us sitting there. “Entertain us!” A lot of these lads would’ve been in England since a young age, the likes of Robbie and Duffer, so they wouldn’t have known who Aslan were. It was brilliant.” “Billy McGuinness said to me when I met him a while later that he’d never seen Christy Dignam as nervous as this before, he said Christy was in bits at the idea of playing for the team. Christy came out and goes “Howiya lads, this is like playing in me Ma’s parlour.” It was incredible.” “They were such a powerful band, with brilliant, brilliant songs. It’s a pity that they didn’t get the level of success that they probably deserved. I would’ve went up to The Silver Granite in Palmerstown to see them on a regular basis, and I’ve seen them in
Ronan O’Flaherty @johnnykeegan
Vicar Street of course, big Derek McGuinness carrying Christy through the crowd singing and all that. Christy and the lads have a great relationship with Derek; it’s not just football people that love him, all the bands love him too.” If you didn’t know Kerr, you’d probably think that he’s keeping big Derek sweet for the odd freebie, but with Kerr these relationships hold a special place. Throughout the course of the interview Brian must’ve mentioned a hundred names, mostly followed by “I was up with him the other day” or “I was only talking to him last week on the phone”. People love talking to Kerr, he’s infectious, but he gets just as much of a buzz talking to people as we do talking and listening to him. PAUL BRADY “I’ve always loved Paul Brady. One of the first gigs I remember seeing was Paul Brady in the Junior Common Room in Trinity, around 1968 or 1969. He was in a band called The Johnston’s, who I’d seen before that; RTE used to have these live radio programmes in
the O’Connell Hall just passed the old Carlton Cinema, and you could apply for tickets. So, I applied and got tickets. The Johnston’s were a folk band from the North of Ireland and Paul Brady was one of them. I was always a lover of Paul Brady, he epitomised Irish success, and had a great understanding of the NorthSouth divide and other big issues like emigration. The Hard Station album, I love it, and that’s why I’d put Paul Brady right up there. And he’s still going, still doing it, and I’ve been lucky to meet him a few times over the years at various things. He loves football too.” U2 “I didn’t mention U2 at all,” Kerr interrupts, as we reach the end of the interview.
“When I was manager of Ireland, I sat beside Larry Mullen one day on the plane, and I was afraid to say howiya to him. And he never said anything to me. And I regretted it. But I got to meet them one time at one of their gigs later on. U2 have been heroes of mine, in terms of what they’ve done for Irish music and helping to put the country on the map in the 90s. I got to see them in the Netherlands a few years after that. One of my favourite matches as manager of Ireland was when we beat the Netherlands 1-0 away from home, before the Euros in 2004, this was their going-away match, and we beat them 1-0, Robbie got a brilliant goal on the counter attack. I enjoyed that day. I always liked to measure my teams against the best opposition, I always wanted to be able to beat the best teams and show people that we could do it. I got to see U2 in the same stadium a few years after that, and it was like an away match again for an Irish team. Seeing an Irish band in a full stadium in a different country, absolutely blowing the crowd away… It was a great experience for me.”
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Super Saints Brian Kerr Johnny Keegan
A life through music...Part IV Roughly 42 kilometres of road separates Tórshavn, the capital city of the Faroe Islands, from Klaksvík, the second city in the northern isles. According to Brian Kerr, it’s the most scenic drive you could have in your life. The road meanders through remote glacial valleys, cuts through enormous mountains, takes you across bridges and through under-sea tunnels, and joins many fishing villages and harbours to the archipelago’s two largest settlements. Depending on the weather and how many sheep you encounter along the way, the journey can take anything from 40 minutes to an hour and a half. Brian Kerr would spend many lonely hours driving across the Faroe Islands following his appointment as Head Coach of the national team there in April, 2009. “Wasn’t I one lucky fella to get
it’s the biggest thing.”
those three years up there in one of the most magnificent places you could ever go in your life,” Kerr reflects fondly. “It’s like Iceland multiplied by ten, in its remoteness and in its landscape; the rhythm of the sea, the hills and mountains, the people, the calmness, the peace and quiet. And yet you go to a match on a Sunday and
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up there. And it was great, I loved going to the matches.”
It might be one of the lowest ranked leagues in Europe, but
EIVØR
on a Sunday in the Faroe Islands, the beautiful game
“There’d be loads of local artists and musicians that I
takes centre stage.
would’ve listened to, especially “I used to work out that about
while driving around the
15-20% of the population used
country going to matches and
to go to watch a match on a
to meet players, half lonely in
Sunday in the Faroe Islands
your head. People were always
Premier League. It was miles
giving me CDs. The music
away from the standard of the
would be similar to well-known
League of Ireland, it was a
Icelandic acts like Bjork and The
good Leinster Senior League
Sugarcubes, and the likes of
standard, but there was a
Sigur Ros. You have to be into
professionalism around it as
the vibe of it, you have to be a
well. Out of a population of
bit laid back. So, a lot of the
47,000 people, you’re not
young artists would be similar
going to uncover a lot of
to that kind of stuff. There
Lionel Messis. But football was
wouldn’t be a huge tradition of
big up there, very important
instrumentation in Faroese
2021 Season • Vol. 33 • No.09 • St Patrick’s Athletic v Derry City
Ronan O’Flaherty @johnnykeegan
music, but there is a rich tradition of voice and
“So, we arrive at the festival. It’s not like
singing.”
Stradbally for Electric Picnic with fences and security around it, there’d be a bloke at a gate
Eivør Pálsdóttir, known as Eivør, is one Faroese musician whose music Kerr became familiar with while driving between islands. Eivør’s
with a bag saying “Have you got a ticket?” You’d get in easily enough whether you had a ticket or not,” Brian jokes.
music is rooted in traditional ballads but incorporates influences from jazz, pop and folk
“Everyone is there! Young kids, grannies… I
music. She sings in Faroese, Danish and
meet most of the team within half an hour, it’s
Norwegian. But the language barrier didn’t
brilliant. So, we’re floating about meeting
stunt Kerr’s enjoyment of, and curiosity for, the
people, having a laugh, we grabbed a burger
local music and culture.
and a coke, and then eventually Westlife come on stage… It’s brutal. Well in my book anyway
“You might not have too much of an idea of what the song is about, but the voice and the music is just sensational. There’s a lot of windy, wet days, snow and ice, water streaming down
it’s brutal. They started playing ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ by Thin Lizzy. I says “Come on, Johnny, we’re out of here.”
the hills, and then suddenly the flowers come out… It’s magical to listen to that music in the
“We’re on the way back
landscape.”
and one of my Faroese
THE LAST TRAIN TO KLAKSVÍK “I brought Johnny McDonnell to a festival up there once. Klaksvík was a bit like Cork, they thought they were the real capital. It was about five islands away. When we went up there, Johnny used to call it The Last Train to Klaksvík,” Kerr laughs and treats me to a line of The Monkees 1966 classic. “The players had been asking me and asking me if I’d go up to the festival, so I said we’d go up. It was in June. Nicky Byrne’s crowd, Westlife, were playing, in
coaches, Abraham Lokin, a great fella, he calls me “Brian, are you still at the festival?” “No, Abraham, I’m on my way back to Tórshavn.” “They’re talking about you. The singer is saying that you wouldn’t pick him and that you’re not a very good coach.” I says “Abraham, he was smaller than you, and you’re only five foot six, and he was a goalkeeper. Does that not give you an idea about why I couldn’t pick him?”
fucking Klaksvík!”
2021 Season • Vol. 33 • No.09 • St Patrick’s Athletic v Derry City
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Super Saints Brian Kerr Johnny Keegan
THERE’S A GREAT CHIPPER IN TÓRSHAVN
NEW MUSIC
“So, we went back, got fish and chips, there’s a
“I like All Tvvins. I was in one of the radio stations
great chipper in Tórshavn, and then went up to
doing a thing a while back and I bumped into
the hotel. At about 9 or 10 o’clock we went back
the two lads from the group, and then I went to
down to the bar, and they [Westlife] arrive in.
watch them at Electric Picnic and they were
And nobody bothers with them. Most people are
excellent. I love to listen to any Irish artists kind
up at the festival. Normally it would be hopping
of breaking through like that, but it’s very hard
around there, it’d be like Sodom and Gomorrah
trying to keep up with everything. I really love
on a Saturday night in Tórshavn. So, they come in
when Other Voices is on the tele from down in
and they’re having a few drinks, but nobody is
Dingle, I always record that and it helps to keep
going near them. They had a couple of security
me in touch a bit.”
fellas with them, and they came over to me and Johnny and say “Do yous want to go over and
“But I’m always going back and listening to
have a chat with the lads?” They were lonely, no
recent stuff from the last few years, the likes of
screaming crowds or people trying to get
The Gloaming, Fontaines DC, their two albums
photos…”
are really good. Denise Chaila, she’s fantastic, I’ve listened to her EP and obviously the stuff she
“And that’s the way it was in the Faroe Islands,
did in the Concert Hall. I love our fella too,
nobody gave a shite who you were. The
FYNCH, he’s really interesting and his lyrics are
goalkeeper played for Man City, Gunnar Nielsen,
great. Eve Belle is another interesting one, she’s
he got half an hour one day when Shay Given
from Donegal. There’s a new band from Galway too called New Dad, I’ve been listening to their stuff lately. Tolü Makay, I watched her on the tele
got injured, and they interviewed him on the BBC. “You must be a big star in the Faroe
the other night doing the Tradfest on RTE, she’s really good.”
Islands?” Gunnar’s answer was brilliant: “They
“I can dip in and out of new and old stuff, and if I
don’t do stars in the Faroe Islands, only in the
get a chance at all I can find myself playing a bit
sky.”
of Talking Heads or Grace Jones, Bon Iver, back to Rory Gallagher, Billy Bragg - I love his style and his message, The Divine Comedy, The XX…”
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2021 Season • Vol. 33 • No.09 • St Patrick’s Athletic v Derry City
Ronan O’Flaherty @johnnykeegan
HEROES Kerr has his musical heroes: Rory Gallagher, Paul Buchanan, Phil Lynott and Paul Noonan amongst them. In the rich history of St. Patrick’s Athletic, from Inchicore to Harold’s Cross and back, from FAI Cup heartbreak to league triumphs, and everything else in between, nobody has made as big an impact on the club and its supporters than Brian Kerr. I can say confidently that he’s a hero to many of us. “I was down in Lansdowne Road a few weeks ago getting the vaccine, all the people involved in that, working on the frontline, what a job PAUL NOONAN
they’re doing! Anyone working in the health service and on the frontline, they’re the heroes. I
Brian, ever the professional, rustles a piece of paper with some more notes and names he wants to mention. One of them is Paul Noonan, known to many as the frontman with Bell X1.
don’t think of any heroism involved in anything I’ve achieved in my career. If anything I’ve ever done brought a little bit of joy into people’s lives, then I’m happy out with that.”
“Paul Noonan would be a bit of a hero of mine, especially in his manner and his attitude to music, and certain issues that he gets into his songs very gently. Bell X1 have a song called ‘Take Your Sweet Time’, it’s about a girl getting her hearing back after never being able to hear before. And I identify with that because I have a sister who’s deaf. It’s a really beautiful song.”
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