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You are > Home > Mickey Ned is one of Kerry football’s greatest ever sons
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Thursday, July 15, 2010
Mickey Ned is one of Kerry football’s greatest ever sons
MICKEY Ned O’Sullivan is continuing Kerry’s strong links to Limerick football.
With well over a week having elapsed from the Munster senior football final between Limerick and Kerry in Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney, many are still saluting the Trojan effort of Mickey Ned’s men. And rightly so.
To run Kerry to within three points in a Munster final was a great achievement for Limerick but that will act as little comfort as their wait for a senior provincial football title stretches back to 1896.
With a man of the calibre of Donie Buckley, a loyal servant of Mickey Ned’s with Limerick, and Liam Kearns, a former boss of the Treaty County, Kerry’s association with Limerick football is very strong. Pat O’Shea is a former Limerick minor football trainer as well.
Over the years, Limerick has been regarded as a hurling county first with football coming second, and there is also the county’s strong links to both rugby and soccer.
It is the spiritual home of Munster rugby and, indeed, there are rugby clubs there that can hold their own against the best in the country.
You can now say the same about the Limerick senior football team. And Mickey Ned has played a huge role in that resurgence of late.
Younger readers of this column might not know too much about Kerry’s All-Ireland winning football captain of 1975 who didn’t get the lift the Sam Maguire after victory over Dublin, as he had ended up in hospital following a heavy challenge during the game.
Mickey Ned has been one of the great servants of Kerry football over the years and that should be remembered by all, even by former team-mates.
The former Kerry player and manager was born in Kenmare in April of 1952, and he went to school locally before he attended Coláiste Ioságáin in Ballyvourney, which was a great footballing college at the time.
After his Leaving Cert exams, Mickey Ned then made the short trip across the Irish Sea to London where he studied Physical Education in St Mary’s University.
It was then on to UCD – a college where he played Sigerson Cup football – where he studied for his higher diploma in education.
When he returned home to Kenmare, Mickey Ned took up a teaching position in Ballyvourney and by this time he was also a well-regarded footballer.
He came to prominence at inter-county level when he was part of the Kerry minor football team that beat Cork in the 1970 Munster final. He was one of many talented young footballers on that particular minor team that went on to achieve greatness.
That Kerry minor football team lost out in the All-Ireland final that year to Galway, after a replay. The vast majority of that team also lost an All-Ireland under-21 final to Galway in 1972.
But just a year later, Mickey Ned won his first All-Ireland under-21 title, as well as a Munster medal, after Kerry got the better of their joust with Mayo in the national decider.
Around now, he had established himself on the Kerry senior football team and his first taste of senior success came in a National League final against Mayo in Croke Park in 1972.
He was also a non-playing substitute on the Kerry senior team that had lost the All-Ireland final that year to Offaly.
While the medals kept on coming for O’Sullivan as he won National Leagues in 1973 and 1974, Cork’s dominance in Munster meant that there was to be no All-Ireland senior title in those seasons.
But then things started to take a turn for the better. Lining out for Kenmare in the 1974 county football final against Shannon Rangers, O’Sullivan and co won the game and so he was now the new Kerry captain for 1975.
During the mid-1970s, Cork were the dominant team in the Munster senior football championship but Kerry turned the corner and they defeated the Rebels 1-14 to 0-7 in the final.
Then that year, 1975, in the All-Ireland decider, O’Sullivan was sandwiched by two Dublin men that saw him stretchered off with 17 minutes gone in the final.
Kerry won the game 2-12 to 0-11 and O’Sullivan became the only All-Ireland winning football captain not to receive the Sam Maguire, as he was recovering in a Dublin hospital when the presentation and celebrations were going on.
A year later, Dublin gained their revenge in the final and it was around then that Mickey Ned headed to America for a while.
When he did return a year later, he regained his place on the panel but he never held down a starting spot in the seasons after, as that Kerry team quickly became the greatest football team of all-time.
Years later, Mickey Ned had the unenviable task of following on as Kerry under-21 and senior manager from Mick O’Dwyer. Micko was, as we all know, an impossible act to follow.
While he did win a Munster championship and an All-Ireland title with the under-21s, that Munster senior final loss to Clare in 1992 was his lowest ebb; a moment to forget.
In 2005, he took over as Limerick boss and he has really helped the Shannon-siders improve, as seen by the fact that they only just lost this year’s Munster final to Kerry and last year’s to Cork.
Mickey Ned, who also helped teach the South African rugby team the art of fielding a ball, is a true son of Kerry football. He deserves the respect of everybody, inside and outside the white line.
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