Kerry captain gets to lift the Sam Maguire Cup after 28 years

TWENTY-eight years on, Mickey ‘Ned’ O’Sullivan finally got to lift the Sam Maguire Cup, not in Croke Park where the honour was denied him in the 1975 All-Ireland football final against Dublin, but in Dunmanway where winning captains and their representatives over the last 75 years were honoured on Saturday.

It was merely a symbolic gesture for the man from Kenmare but it had special resonance for him nevertheless. He was concussed during the second half of the final resulting in Pat Spillane accepting the trophy, as vice-captain and he only learned of the outcome from a nurse in hospital about five hours later.

Many of the guests at a formal luncheon in the Parkway Hotel and the public presentation ceremony in the Sam Maguire Square might not have appreciated the irony of him receiving his Waterford Glass replica from Association President Sean Kelly immediately following Dublin's 1974 captain. The recipient was Sean Doherty, the player who ended his involvement in the game with a high tackle.