Kerry Boston's heartbeat: ‘It has been a week of dreams'

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

Before Jack O'Connor was the five-time All-Ireland winning manager, he was an Irish teacher in Cahersiveen. Before Timmy O'Neill set out to forge a life Stateside, he was a hopeful student, ready to chase something greater. They were united by a county and a creed.
'I heard Jack's speech in Kenmare this morning,' says O'Neill, originally from Sneem but now living in Boston.
'It brought me back to my oral Irish. He used to come out to Kenmare for the oral Irish exam. When I sat down in front of Jack, I just said, 'bím ag imirt peile.' He gave me an A.'
O'Neill is one of two Kerrymen over the Kerry Boston senior team, alongside Maurice Murphy of Dingle. This season was their first campaign in the senior championship since 2015. They take on serial winners Donegal in the semi-final this Sunday. The club can still claim to be the place where it all started at adult level for the current Kerry boss. In the late 1990s, O'Connor came out occasionally to coach the team as they competed for senior honours.
At the time, the club was a powerhouse of the Northeast. They fielded three teams across senior, intermediate and junior. They won senior titles in 1993 and 1996. Former players included Pádraic Joyce and Anthony Tohill. This was the ambition that drove them early on. The same economic uncertainty that drove countless young people across the Atlantic also drove Murphy.
'I first came out because there was no work at home. Football was always a big part of my life. I started out here playing for the Blues for four years and then in 1989 I joined Kerry,' he says. 'I have been involved ever since.'
The club relies on emigrants to keep the show on the road. In return they can offer a sense of purpose and belonging. For generations, clubs like Kerry Boston have functioned as a cultural anchor. John Joe Somers left Listowel and established a series of successful pubs before he died in 2015. Their pub still sponsors the team. Chris McGillycuddy is another sponsor and was a founder of St. Brendan's, a youth club for children and teens around Boston. His brother sponsors the Kerry London team.
'The club is absolutely massive for us,' says O'Neill. 'It gives us reason to get together and do stuff. As much work as it is, and it is labour intensive, while trying to deal with work and family life too, it is the heart and soul of our community.
'When lads come out here, they see the importance it has for people. Even watching the games on TV together, you see the passion for it.'
Their drop down the ranks was gradual and painful and part of a wider story of change. The Celtic Tiger prompted widespread reverse migration. Numbers dwindled. They competed in the intermediate championship instead.
'There was fewer and fewer Kerry men coming out, that was a struggle,' says Murphy.
'But the youth clubs St Brendan's and Trinity were started by current Kerry members, we picked up youth members they had.' The current rule on player eligibility requires that each team field at least two American-born players, five sanctioned players (those in town for the summer), and six home-based players, those living and working full-time in the city.
This is the network that intercounty summer visitors tap into every year. Across US GAA, there are almost 9,000 players with 67% of them American-born.
This semi-final fixture see the likes of Kerry's Luke Breathnach and Ethan Dunne (both Dublin), John Cooper (Cork), Ryan Donohoe (Cavan), Rob Stack and Darragh Fleming (both Kerry) face off against Donegal's Oisin Conaty (Armagh), Daire Cregg (Roscommon), Jordan Morrissey (Carlow), Stephen O'Brien (Kerry) and Ryan and Danny Magill (Down).
'The Kerry football club is more of a brotherhood,' explains Murphy.
'We had three players that played for us in the 1996 final, three Dublin lads, Paul Croft, David Moore and Rory Lyne. Paul and James actually made the Dublin team. When they heard we were playing senior this year, they were absolutely delighted. Those three lads are actually coming out Thursday to support us in the semi-final on Sunday.'
The championship is operating under the new rules, with the only significant adjustment being that it is 13-a-side. Kerry are coached by current goalkeeper Nevin O'Donnell, who has played for Leitrim and Cavan in recent years. His first cousin, Noel Garvan, played for the club in the 1990s.
'Nevin has brought county level training to our club, stuff we would have never seen. We were in the dark really for the new rules. He has been a massive addition to our club, his work with the young players in particular has been brilliant,' says Murphy, still riding high from last weekend's triumph and the buzz of being involved at the business end of a championship.
'It has been a week of dreams as a Kerryman, for sure, here and at home.'