A glittering career in green and gold

Over the course of his glittering Kerry inter-county senior career, which lasted from 1973 to 1984, John Egan made 40 championship appearances for Kerry.

In 25 of these games he lined out at right corner-forward, while being picked in the left corner 14 times and once — in the 1976 All-Ireland final against Dublin — at full-forward.

In his last season, in 1984, he didn’t line out in the Munster semi-final against Tipperary, but came on as a sub in the final against Cork.

Later, he was replaced in the All-Ireland final against Dublin and it was a decision he found difficult to accept.

Winner of six All-Ireland medals from eight final appearances and holder of 11 Munster medals, he made his senior debut in 1972 in the league against Kildare.

His first championship outing was against Tipperary the following season — when he scored a point.

Older Tipp followers will recall his next outing against them, in Clonmel in 1975, when the home county went into the lead unexpectedly in the 40th minute. But, in a matter of minutes Egan had equalised, then scored two points before getting the second of two goals.

The year in between, in the 1974 league final against Roscommon in Croke Park, he rescued the Kingdom with an equalising goal in injury time.

Kerry went on to win the replay and that brought him the second of four NFL medals, the first of which he had won in the company of Mick O’Dwyer against Offaly 12 months earlier.

In league competition, he made 65 appearances, famously scoring 4-1 against Laois in Tralee when the Midlanders were held scoreless.

His cumulative score over the course of 12 campaigns amounted to 21-59, while he totalled 14-59 in championship football.

When Kerry won the first of their eight All-Ireland titles under Mick O’Dwyer in 1975, it was a goal from Egan after just three minutes which set the Kingdom on the road to a famous victory over holders Dublin. And on a regular basis he displayed an unerring ability to score goals at crucial stages of games.

His other honours included six Railway Cup medals and five All-Star awards, won in 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1983.

He had the dubious distinction of being captain in 1982 when Kerry were foiled in their historic bid for five in a row by Offaly — the famous Seamus Darby final.