Death occurs of Kerry kitman Vincent Linnane

Long-serving Kerry football kitman and Austin Stack Park groundsman Vincent Linnane has passed away.

A native of Kiltimagh, Mayo, Linnane met his wife, Noreen, while living in Manchester and the pair moved to Ballyduff in the 1980s.

In 1989, he was approached by then Kerry County Board secretary Tony O’Keeffe with a view to overseeing a Fás scheme at Austin Stack Park. It was a role he would hold for almost three decades.

Linnane served as kitman for the Kerry minor hurlers in the early 1990s, his first involvement with the Kingdom footballers coming in 1993 when minor manager Charlie Nelligan brought him in. His brief soon expanded to the U21s, juniors, and, eventually, the seniors. He worked with Páidí Ó Sé, Jack O’Connor, Pat O’Shea, and Eamonn Fitzmaurice. Indeed, he was present on the sideline for Sunday’s Allianz FL Division 1 final win over Dublin.

Fellow Kerry kitman Niall ‘Botty’ O’Callaghan, discussing Linnane’s service to the senior set-up earlier this year, described him as meticulous. “For matches which require an overnight stay, Vince and I would be in the one room. And the jerseys are always brought up to the hotel room. They are never, ever left in the van. He counts them the evening before the game and you might hear him at six in the morning counting them again. He was so thorough.”