Personalise Your Experience

Ulster Bank
Ulster Bank
 
  • GAA Force

Peter Sweeney

Peter Sweeney's Blog

Peter Sweeney is the Gaelic Games Correspondent with the Irish Daily Star Newspaper. He is a regular on television and radio and even though he isn't any good he still tries to play Gaelic football.

  • 22 Aug 2011

    Kerry produce another team for the history books.

    MICK O’Dwyer’s Kerry team of the seventies and eighties will go down as the greatest Gaelic football side of all-time. Their achievements are unmatched, the stories of their glory will be told forever and the feats of some of those players will never be equaled. But perhaps, in the fullness of time, the current Kingdom crop will be remembered with equal reverence. read more

    MICK O’Dwyer’s Kerry team of the seventies and eighties will go down as the greatest Gaelic football side of all-time.

    Their achievements are unmatched, the stories of their glory will be told forever and the feats of some of those players will never be equaled.

    But perhaps, in the fullness of time, the current Kingdom crop will be remembered with equal reverence.

    Micko’s team won an unparalleled eight All-Ireland crowns in 12 seasons, including a four in-a-row and later three titles back-to-back.

    They played in ten finals between 1975 and 1986 and it was thought that we would never see their likes again.

    But this Kerry team isn’t too far away - nine finals in 12 seasons and five Sam Maguires since 2000. That would make them legends in any other county.

    And just look at the players - Darragh, Tomas and Marc O Se, Colm Cooper, Declan O’Sullivan, Seamus Moynihan, Paul Galvin.

    These are all stars that would have walked onto any team in any era - including Micko’s.

    Of course, the wily Waterville Wizard will always be the most successful manager in football history.

    The current Kingdom run was compiled under three different managers - Paidi O Se, Jack O’Connor (twice) and Pat O’Shea.

    But many of the faces on the field have remained the same.

    Tomas O Se and Tom O’Sullivan are both still hanging around since 2000. The likes of Marc O Se and Colm Cooper, who is only 28-years-old, joined them in 2002.

    Just as remarkable as their track-record of final appearances and All-Ireland wins, they have been the All-Ireland semi-finals, at least, every year bar one since 2000.

    Last year, when they surprisingly lost to Down at the quarter-final stage with a team shorn of the suspended Galvin and Tomas O Se, was the only time they missed out.

    And this was achieved against a far more competitive football landscape than in Kerry’s golden years, when only two or perhaps three counties had a chance of lifting Sam Maguire any given year.

    True, the backdoor increased the strong sides’ chances of making it to the latter stages.

    But it has also ushered in a far more democratic era, when the likes of Armagh and Tyrone won their first All-Irelands while the likes of Kildare, Donegal and Dublin all compete at the highest level.

    Win or lose on the third Sunday in September, their ninth final in 12 years, this Kerry team’s place in history amongst the greatest sides ever to play the game is solidly cemented.

Home Away Date Time Venue
London Leitrim 03.06.2012 3:00 Ruislip
Longford Wexford 03.06.2012 2:00 Croke Park
Louth Dublin 03.06.2012 4:00 Croke Park
Clare Limerick 09.06.2012 7:00 Cusack Park, Ennis or Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

View more

Home Score Away Score Date Venue
Roscommon 0-10 Galway 3-15 20.05 Hyde Park
Cavan 1-10 Donegal 1-16 20.05 Kingspan Breffni Park
Limerick 2-12 Waterford 0-7 20.05 Gaelic Grounds, Limerick
Westmeath 0-14 Louth 2-9 20.05 Navan

View more

Blog Archive