Sam safely back in Kingdom after gala scare

KERRY may have ran away with the Sam Maguire in September, but according to reports in London, a few Corkmen tried to do the same thing there.

According to the Irish Post, the country’s most famous sports trophy was the guest of honour at the Kerry Association Ball in Cricklewood, London last week when the alleged attempted abduction occurred.

One of the guests, John Heaphy, was making his way home by taxi, when he noticed three people — two men and a woman — leaving the hotel with the cup.

When challenged the three people said they had the authority to take the trophy elsewhere.

He rang his brother, who had been sitting beside the All-Ireland winning manager, Jack O’Connor.

“Within seconds Jack came running out the door and the matter was very quickly put to rest,” Mr Heaphy told the Irish Post.

“The Sam would probably have turned up eventually but it would have been very embarrassing. And to be honest, the lads have played too much fantastic football this year for someone to come along and do something like this. I thought ‘enough is enough’.”

It is not the first time a major Irish trophy has gone missing. In 2002, University of Ulster were almost thrown out of the Sigerson GAA Cup after they lost the trophy which they had won the year before.

They pleaded for leniency from the Sigerson organisers, and arranged to replace the trophy which had been valued at £7,000 (€10,400).

However, the trophy turned up one morning — outside a students’ house in reportedly good condition.

More famously the Jules Rimet World Cup soccer trophy went missing in London in 1966.

It was eventually found by Pickles, a dog, out for a walk with his owner, on March 27 in south London.