Kerry GAA

Crest

The team's current crest, which came into use in 2012, features design elements that represent the county: Kerry’s people, landscape, flora, fauna and artistry.

County name – A bold decorative Celtic-style Ciarraí brand featuring a crowned C which pays homage to the county’s moniker, 'The Kingdom'

Kerry’s people – St Brendan and his epic voyage: an inspiring tale of bravery, skill and innovation. The naomhóg (a craft associated with the coastal communities around Kerry) is propelled by a sail featuring a Celtic cross – the symbol of the GAA

Kerry’s fauna – Red Deer (Fia Rua): Ireland’s largest wild animal whose only remaining native herd is found on the slopes of Torc and Mangerton. These animals are believed to have had a continuous presence in Ireland since the end of the last Ice Age (c. 10,000 BC) and are steeped in folklore. It is said that ‘Tuan’, the King of the Deer, was given rights of free passage by Fionn McCool to the mountains of Kerry and that his blood line lives on in the present herd

Kerry’s landscape – Skellig Michael’s iconic silhouette rising out of the Atlantic Ocean. A designated UNESCO World Heritage site and famous around the globe

Kerry’s flora – KIllarney woodland fern that thrives in wild exotic places; an evocation of majestic mountains, valleys and hills

Kerry’s artistry – A background pattern of concentric circles inspired by the gilding on the Ballinclemisig ‘gold box’ (part of the ‘Kerry gold hoard’ in the National Museum) and by Bronze Age stone carvings found all over Kerry

Kerry’s birdlife – Storm Petrel (An Guairdeall): Kerry plays host to the largest numbers of this species anywhere in the world and is the world headquarters for breeding pairs

It was introduced for copyright reasons, to secure the Kerry county board financially.^[2] The previous crest, shown on the right, which was used from 1988 to 2011 was based more on Irish and Celtic symbolism, featuring a round-tower church, an Irish Wolfhound and a harp.

Kits and colours

Kerry traditional colours are gold and green and the county team kits are composed by a green shirt with a single golden hoop, white shorts and green and gold socks. In the early days of the All-Ireland Football Championship, counties were represented by the county champions. Kerry's first represpentatives were from Laune Rangers, and the blue of Laune Rangers^[3] was worn in Kerry's first championship outing in 1889. The royal blue of Laune Rangers^[4] were also worn in the 1892 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Between 1889 and 1895 inclusive, the teams that went forward to represent Kerry were Laune Rangers and Ballymacelligott, who both wore blue.

In the early 20th century, selection committees had been established by the county board, but as Tralee Mitchels dominated the county championship, they had an influential voice in the selection of the team, and the county footballers wore the Mitchels colours of green and gold.^[5]

There are conflicting accounts of the jersey that Kerry wore in the first of the three games of the 1903 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final series with Kildare, but both accounts agree that the predominant colour was red. One account says that it was a red jersey with green neck and cuffs,^[4][6] which were the colours of the Tralee Mitchels junior football team. Another account says that it was an entirely red jersey^[7] with no green in it. The reason that Kerry wore this red or mainly red jersey was that a new set of green and gold jerseys was not delivered in time for the game. For the later games in the 1903 series of games, Kerry wore green jerseys with gold on the cuffs and over the shoulders.^[4][8] These were the colours of the Tralee Mitchels senior team.^[7]

The dominance of Mitchels players on the Kerry team at the point in which they won their first All-Ireland, reinforced the idea that green and gold were the Kerry colours, and they have been Kerry's traditional colours from the 1903 triumph onward.^[9] The 'classic' style is green with a gold hoop. The colours have been changed only rarely, most of all in the 80's finals against Offaly to avoid again colour clashes. In the 1939 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final Kerry were to play Meath, who also wear green and gold. To avoid a colour clash, Kerry wore the red and white of Dingle, the county champions at the time.^[4]

The change kit is usually blue, reflecting the Munster GAA colours.

Kerry's inter-county teams are sponsored by the Kerry Group, in one of the longest standing sponsorship arrangements in the GAA. The teams have been connected with the Kerry Group since sponsorship became more open in the GAA in the early 1990s.^[10]

Kerry's jerseys are currently provided by O'Neills sportswear.^[11] The team kit had been supplied from 1996 to 1998 by Adidas, while prior to that contract in 1998, Kerry were partnered with the now-defunct Millfield brand.^[12]

Kit evolution

1889-1895

1903 Final (V Kildare)

1903 Final (V London)

Classic kit

1939 Final

1981 Final

1982 Final

2009-12

2015-17

History

Kerry is the most successful team in the history of Gaelic football, having won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship on 37 occasions and the National Football League 20 times. The team is also the holders of a number of distinctive records in football championship history. They have contested 59 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals, the next highest participator being Dublin with 36 appearances. Kerry's record in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship involves having played 30 of the 31 other counties, with only Kilkenny being the exception.^[13]

The traditional Irish game of caid, from which modern football developed, was especially popular in Kerry. The GAA was formed in 1884 and codified the modern rules of the game, which were soon adopted in Kerry clubs such as Laune Rangers. Despite this, the county team did not win an All-Ireland Football Championship in the nineteenth century. The 1903 title was the first won by Kerry, with them beating London in the final at a time when London were given a bye to that stage of the championship; Kerry's overall exceptional success in the game began in this period.

The Kerry team of the 1970s and 1980s is arguably considered to be the greatest in the history of football^[14][15][16] and its manager (Mick O'Dwyer) the greatest of all time.^[14][17][18] Of the 20 All-Ireland finals held during those two decades, Kerry participated in 12, with victory coming on 9 occasions. During this time most other finals were won by Dublin, and there was a major rivalry between the two counties especially during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1982, Kerry came within one minute of winning an unprecedented fifth All-Ireland title in a row, only for a late goal by Offaly's Séamus Darby (controversial as many claimed Darby pushed the Kerry defender, Tommy Doyle, in the back) gave the title to Offaly. This goal was voted third in a poll to find the Top 20 GAA Moments.

Kerry team celebrating with Sam Maguire Cup in Tralee in 2007

Towards the end of the 1980s, Kerry went into decline and did not appear in an All-Ireland final for 11 years, between 1986 and 1997. The 1997 victory, however, would mark the beginning of a revival for Kerry which spanned roughly the first decade of the 21st century. Of the 15 All-Ireland finals between 1997 and 2011, Kerry contested ten and won six, including five titles in the 2000s. In 2006 and 2007, Kerry won consecutive All-Ireland titles (the first to do so since Cork in 1989 and 1990), while in 2009, they became only the third team to reach six consecutive All-Ireland finals (a feat last achieved by Dublin between 1974 and 1979), winning their 36th title by beating Cork in that final. Kerry quietly exited the 2010 and 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championships at the quarter-final stage, losing to Down and Donegal respectively, while Dublin defeated them in dramatic fashion on the last kick in the 2011 final.^[19][20][21] Dublin were also responsible for their exit at the semi-final stage in 2013 in a closely contested classic match.^[22]

Kerry's 2009 title was also notable since it followed the return of Tadhg Kennelly. The son of Tim Kennelly, a five-time All-Ireland winner with Kerry, and a former talented underage player with the county, he had joined the AFL's Sydney Swans and become the first Irish player to win an AFL Premiership in 2005 (the Swans' first in 72 years). Following Tim's death later that year, he elected to return to Ireland and rejoin Kerry in 2009 in pursuit of winning an All-Ireland of his own playing for the county. After he succeeded and became the first player to have won an All-Ireland and an AFL Premiership, he returned to Australia and the Swans to finish his career.

Honours

Kerry have won 37 All-Ireland Senior Football Championships and have been the losers in 20 other All-Ireland Football Finals. Kerry footballers have won some awards and hold numerous individual records in the sport. Pat Spillane received nine All Star Awards during his career, a feat matched by no other Gaelic footballer, while Tadhg Kennelly remains the only holder of both an AFL Premiership medallion and a Senior All-Ireland Championship medal, the highest respective possible honors in the sports of Australian rules football and Gaelic football, in addition to winning a GAA Medal as Irish Player of the Series in the International Rules Series.

Managerial history

This is a list of people who have coached/managed the Kerry senior football team in recent years.

Current football squad

• Bainisteóir: Éamonn Fitzmaurice (Finuge)
• Roghnóirí: Mikey Sheehy (Austin Stacks), Liam Hassett (Laune Rangers), Maurice Fitzgerald (St. Mary's), Pádraig Corcoran (Dingle)

Squad as per Kerry v Monaghan, 2018 All-Ireland Quarter-Final Group Stage Round 2, 22 July 2018

Honours

• All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championships: 11
  • 1976, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993
• All-Ireland Under-18 Ladies' Football Championship: 3
  • 1980, 1981, 1995
• All-Ireland Under-16 Ladies' Football Championship: 2
  • 1999, 2011
• All-Ireland Under-14 Ladies' Football Championship: 6
  • 1991, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2008, 2014

History

In 2003, team made it to the fourth round of the qualifiers only to go down to Limerick 1-14 to 0-24 in Austin Stack Park in Tralee. Along the way they beat Westmeath, Carlow and beaten Ulster finalists Derry. The wins over Westmeath and Carlow represented the first time a Kerry team strung two consecutive Championship victories together. It also marked the first occasion that the Kerry hurling team played more championship games then the Kerry football team.

For many years the senior team played in the Junior and Intermediate Championships and had some success. They won All-Ireland titles at Junior level in 1961 and 1972, and won a Munster Championship at junior level in 1956. At Intermediate level they won Munster titles in 1970 and 1973.

Kerry have played in just one Munster Minor Hurling Championship Final, in 1938, when they lost to a Cork team that included the great Christy Ring. They have however won and played in a number of All-Ireland B Finals.

Kerry have never won the Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship, their most notable achievement in the championship came in 2004 when they ran Limerick to 3 points in Austin Stack Park. They have however won and played in a number of All-Ireland U21 B Championship Finals.

The advent of the Christy Ring Cup has seen Kerry become very competitive. They first made the semi-finals in 2009 where they lost out to Carlow after a replay. They went a step more in 2010 making the final but losing out to Westmeath. In 2011 they again made the final, but this time won the title with voctory over Wicklow. From 2013 to 2015 they made the final each year, losing to Down in 2013 and Kildare in 2014 before finally getting over the line thanks to victory over Derry

Kerry won the Division 2A final of the 2015 National Hurling League and advanced to the relegation/promotion match with favorites Antrim, a late point by substitute John Egan saw Kerry advance to Division 1B.^[33]

In 2016 Kerry played in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship round robin along with Carlow, Westmeath and Offaly.

Honours

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships: 1
  • 1891
• All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championships: 3
  • 1976, 1983, 1986
• Christy Ring Cups: 2
  • 2011, 2015
• All Ireland Under 21 B Championships: 9
  • 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2018^[34]
• All Ireland Minor B Hurling Championships: 10
  • 1997, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013,^[35] 2014, 2015, 2016
• All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championships: 2
  • 1961, 1972
• National Hurling Leagues Division 2: 2
  • 1998, 2001
• National Hurling Leagues Division 2A: 2
  • 2014, 2015
• National Hurling Leagues Division 3A: 1
  • 2010
• Munster Senior Hurling Championships: 1
  • 1891
• Munster Junior Hurling Championships: 1
  • 1956
• Munster Intermediate Hurling Championships:2
  • 1970,1973
• Leinster Minor B Hurling Championships: 2
  • 1987, 1988

Notable hurlers

• Michael ‘Boxer’ Slattery
• Shane Brick
• Brendan O'Sullivan
• philip lucid
• John Mike Dooley
• John Healy
• John Mahony
• Tom Collins
• Maurice Leahy
• Christy Walsh

Current team

• Manager: Ciarán Carey

Squad as per Kerry vs Antrim, 2015 National Hurling League 1B, Relegation Play-Off, 11 April 2015