New DVD sheds light on Kerry’s 32 winning captains
A Captain’s Story: Secrets of Kerry, a new DVD from renowned Kerry GAA chronicler Christy Riordan from Caherciveen and his close friend, Radio Kerry presenter Weeshie Fogarty brings to life the personal tales of all 32 All-Ireland-winning Kerry Gaelic football captains from 1903 to 2009.
The five-hour DVD covers Thady O’Gorman and Austin Stack all the way to Darren O’Sullivan in 2009, focusing on the build-up to the big day and what the All-Ireland wins meant to the players and their families, both in the moment and in terms of their futures. Of the 32 winning captains, 16 are still alive, and where the captain was deceased, Fogarty has interviewed close relatives, with Riordan doing the filming and editing.
Glory aside, the interviews also deal with the problems created by the infamous appointments procedure in the county, which sees the county champions propose the county captain. In Kerry however, the player chosen is not safeguarded from the dreaded drop, and bitterness remains in many quarters over the heartbreak the process has led to over the years.
For example there is the tale of Gus Cremin, now over 90 years of age and the oldest living captain Fogarty interviewed. In 1946, he was captain when Kerry drew the All-Ireland final with Roscommon, but was dropped for the replay. Although he came on in the replay and scored a crucial point, he still holds it against the team’s trainer Dr. Eamonn O’Sullivan. After the win he got on the train and came home alone. When the team was returning to Kerry with the cup, he was back working his fields and took no part in the celebrations.
But perhaps most poignant of all is the story of Phil O’Sullivan, captain for the 1924 win, who emigrated to New York and saw his life take a turn for the worse.
Speaking with The Irish Emigrant from Kerry, Weeshie Fogarty takes up the story:
“We went down to Cloyne, Co. Cork and spoke with Phil O’Sullivan’s niece, Annie Hegarty. She’s 91 years old, and from what we could gather she’s the only person still alive who had known him. He was from Tuosist; a very smart man by all accounts, educated at UCD. ‘Peerless’ Phil O’Sullivan they used to call him.
“He traveled with the Kerry team on a tour of the U.S. in 1926. At a banquet in New York he met Kathleen O’Mahoney from Tipperary, who was playing the piano. Phil sang with her at one point, and the pair fell in love and were married.
“They stayed in America but never had a family. Kathleen eventually turned to the drink, leading to the breakdown of the marriage. Phil died destitute. There was nobody at his funeral, and he remained in a pauper’s grave until a group from Tuosist found the plot in New York’s Calvary Cemetery in the ’60s and gave it a proper headstone. The GAA grounds at Tuosist is named after him today.”
It’s real-life warts ‘n’ all tales such as this which make A Captain’s Story: Secrets of Kerry a must-see not only for Kerry GAA enthusiasts, but for all fans of our games. The final product, the culmination of two and a half years of painstaking research, will be launched in the presence of Kerry greats past and present at the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney on October 26th. All proceeds from DVD sales will go to selected Kerry-based charities.
