25,000 fans cheer Kingdom’s heroes
Biggest crowd, estimated at 15,000, was in Tralee where there was a particularly warm reception for local hero, Kieran Donaghy, the charismatic full-forward who has been described as the find of the year.
“There was a small bit of pressure,” quipped Donaghy, who is known as a bit of joker. A huge cheer went up, with a forest of green and gold flags rising into the air.
Several thousand people were at Tralee railway station when the special train bearing the Kerry senior and minor teams arrived. Captain Declan O’Sullivan was first to step onto the platform, carrying the Sam Maguire Cup.
The players boarded an open-top bus, which moved at snail’s pace through the streets, with people applauding all the way.
Fans waited patiently for more than an hour at a platform in Denny St, from which the players were introduced. Declan O’Sullivan recalled the “heartbreak” of being beaten by Tyrone in the last year’s final.
“The crowds lifted us, then and we were determined to come back and win the All-Ireland,” he said.
Kerry manager Jack O’Connor compared the difference between victory and defeat to that between night and day, but “after lots of twists and turns and bad times and good” Kerry emerged to take their 34th title.
An elated Kieran Donaghy said he was a young fellow standing in the crowd when the Kerry team came home after winning the All-Ireland in 1997.
“It’s amazing to be on this stage tonight,” he said.
Also on the stage were Kerry mayor Ted Fitzgerald and Tralee mayor Norma Foley.
Earlier, around 1,000 delighted fans turned out in Rathmore to greet the teams, when their train made its first stop in Kerry.
Rathmore GAA officials Andrew McCarthy and Donal Murphy welcomed the teams and there was a rapturous reception for two players from Rathmore — RTÉ man of the match award winner Aidan O’Mahony and Tom O’Sullivan.
Kerry GAA board chairman Sean Walsh reminded the crowd of a pledge he made last year.
“I said then that we’d bring back the Sam Maguire Cup this year. If was a politician, I’d be looking for votes from every one of ye because I keep my promises,” he joked.
