Kerry’s oldest active GAA fan, 95, still making the journey to Croke Park
Kerry's oldest active fan Donal Leahy, 95, from Tralee. Mr Leahy is flying up on Saturday to the Kerry game against Tyrone at Croke Park and down home again on Sunday. Picture: Domnick Walsh
He may be Kerry’s oldest active GAA fan, but 95-year-old Donal Leahy has overcome his share of obstacles to watching his beloved green and gold in person.
A lack of suitable rail travel options and no terrestrial TV coverage will frustrate many older supporters in rural areas this weekend, but the Tralee nonagenarian remains determined to continue his pilgrimages to Croke Park.
With the four All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals taking place at Croke Park, he will take to the skies on Saturday and fly to the capital, returning home “as early as I can” on Sunday.
“I am very annoyed with the treatment we get in Kerry with the lack of train services. Usually we could drive to Mallow and join the service from there, but the Cork supporters have filled those,” Mr Leahy, a founder member of the Na Gaeil club in Tralee, explained.
“There are neither enough trains going or coming home, especially with the game on after 6 o’clock on Saturday. The timings didn’t work, so we have to fly up and stay overnight.”
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With Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals involving Cork and Kerry available on GAA+, many older fans in the south of the country will instead rely on local radio.
“People like myself, a lot of us don’t know how to get that on a computer, and the GAA should do something about that. I saw in North Kerry, in a local hall, they are bringing the old people in together and putting the match on a screen for them. That’s a brilliant idea, a simple idea, and I’d hope many other areas would copy because the way we are going, it’s the only way older people will be able to watch these games in the future.”
Mr Leahy turned 95 in May, but he is as fresh as paint and has been going to Kerry matches for the best part of 80 years.
“As far as I’m aware I would be Kerry’s oldest active fan, I haven’t met any other my age going around to games, but I could be wrong. I love being there - with the help of my stick.
“I’m from Brosna, and my first match watching Kerry, was in 1945 in Killarney, the Munster final. It was post WWII, so petrol was very scarce, we travelled to Killarney via pony and trap from Brosna. It took the best part of three hours.
“There should be an award for the oldest fan in Croke Park. But I suppose they would wait until a fella is dead before they would call it out before the match – and give you a round of applause when you’d be gone! But I’ll be set for the semi-final again if Kerry get there. The days are getting scarcer for me now, I want to fit in as much as I can. I rely on my stick, the only thing that’s wrong with me is the balance can be a bit off at times.”
Like every football conversation in the Kingdom, discussions about the county’s greatest players quickly become animated.
“Through the years I’ve seen them all but the best player to my mind was Jack O’Shea. There was a song written about him: ‘And you tell me, When shall we see, another Jack O’Shea’.
“Most people would say Mick O’Connell, he’d have been more artistic, but O’Shea was my man of the match down through the years.
“O’Connell was a genius, we shared a house together in college in college in Cork in the 50’s. I qualified in diary science and worked after with Kerry Group as a regional manager. Micko was quiet but a walking genius. He was doing engineering for 12 months, but returned then to Valentia Island. They did everything possible to get him back to UCC. They say about islanders, they like to go home.”
But what of the current talisman from Fossa?
“Jacko was my favourite, but David Clifford, is he the best we have seen? Probably, he’s got it all. It’s a different game now, with different rules but he’s standing alone. What I loved about Jacko is that he never had a bad game for Kerry. He met the best of them and beat them at centre field.”
Donal’s wife passed away about six years ago, but he’s still driving and determined to stay active. Jones’ Road on Saturday is a challenge he’s more than ready for. He hopes his compatriots are the same.
“Once I get into the stadium, it’s no trouble. There’s a lift going up to the stand, and my daughter Fiona will make sure we get to the ground in plenty of time. One thing Croke Park has that Killarney needs is a back to the seats. There’s none in Fitzgerald Stadium but they are doing a big job there so that should be rectified. I hope I’m around for it.”
His clubmate Diarmuid O’Connor is part of Kerry’s team for Saturday’s quarter-final against Tyrone. He came up through the ranks in a fledgling club in Tralee, born out of a need to serve a new generation of families in the Oakpark area.
Mr Leahy was a founder member, although it was not an easy beginning.
“This (Oakpark) area was developing, there were new houses were coming on stream, but it was very hard to start a club, because you had other, bigger, clubs in the town, were cherry-picking the best lads from the area. But what about the rest of them? Once we got off the ground, we found our feet and have prospered, thank God.”
Another obstacle overcome.
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