Kieran Shannon: Cork icon Kevin Kehily led a sporting life less ordinary 

The two-time All Star passed away over the weekend. 

The Cork team that played Dublin at Croke Park in the 1983 All-Ireland semi-final. Back row, left to right: John Allen, Colman Corrigan, Kevin Kehilly, Michael Creedon, Tadgh Murphy, Michael Hannon, Don Creedon, Dave Barry. Front Row (l-r) Eoin O'Mahony, Jimmy Kerrigan, Christy Ryan, John Cleary, Mark Healy, John Evans and Dinny Allen. Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland

Sometimes it’s harder to know which to believe: that one of our childhood sporting heroes has been struck down, or in retrospect some of the feats they pulled off when we were adoring them.

On Sunday night the news broke that Kevin Kehily, the former Cork footballer, had passed away after a long illness; this column learned, like many others did, through a tweet by Tony Leen, accompanied by a picture of the man.