Tralee Parnells help bring football rivals together for good of Kerry hurling

TRALEE RISING: Tralee Parnells after winning the National Féile Division 3 title in June. Pic: Tralee Parnells

2022 has already been a memorable year for sport in Kerry, and not just for the obvious. Sam Maguire will spend the winter in the Kingdom for the first time since 2014. But the rise of other sports in Kerry continues.

For the first time there is a strong possibility that Kerry will have a League of Ireland club operating in the First Division next season. Garvey’s Tralee Warriors are the reigning men’s basketball League and Cup champions. St Paul’s Killarney will have a senior team in the women’s league this season for the first time since 2012.

Back in June, the Kerry hurlers reached the final of the Joe McDonagh Cup final and with it a place in the last eight of the Liam MacCarthy Cup. It is the third year in a row that the county have reached the decider.

North Kerry has always been the heartland of Kerry hurling. A collection of eight villages and townlands outside Tralee have dominated the SHC. Two of them, Causeway and Ballyduff, will contest the Kerry SHC final on Sunday (3pm, Austin Stack Park, Tralee. Live on TG4).

There are pockets of hurling in Killarney and Kilgarvan, who won the Kerry IHC title on Wednesday.

And a club in Tralee provided four players in the 26 for the Joe McDonagh final.

Tralee Parnells hurling club was founded in 1890, just a year before Kerry won their only All-Ireland hurling title in 1891. The club won county titles in 1918 and 1919 but disbanded in the 1920s.

In 2012 the club was reformed, focusing solely on fielding underage teams.

Andrew Morrissey, Radio Kerry presenter and co-commentator on hurling for the station, moved to Kerry from Cork for work and joined up with the famous Austin Stacks club in Tralee.

The Nemo Rangers clubman joined the Stacks hurling team but with no underage teams coming through to bolster the ranks the hurling team played their final game in 2018. He saw the work that Parnells were doing and threw his lot in with them.

“Parnells had started an underage academy which was obviously taking some of the younger guys. In 2019 they fielded a senior team for the first time. In 2021 we fielded two senior teams for the first time, in the intermediate and the junior grade.

“It was a huge thing because all along we were fielding juvenile teams.” 

David Brick was the main driving force behind the reforming of the club along with Mark Reale, who still plays for the team, and several others.

The club are also fielding adult camogie sides for the first time.

The rivalries between the four football clubs in Tralee are keen. And Morrissey feels that any youngster who may have been interested in hurling but who was a member of a rival club may have been put off playing for Austin Stacks before Parnells was formed.

“If you’re playing with Na Gaeil or Kerins O’Rahilly’s or John Mitchels as a footballer, you don’t necessarily want to put on an Austin Stacks jersey and play for Austin Stacks. There was no underage there, there’s guys now playing with some of the big guns in North Kerry who are actually from the Tralee area because they didn’t have a hurling club in Tralee.” 

With Parnells now thriving, teammates are finding themselves in an interesting new dynamic. Fierce rivals in Tralee football derbies one weekend and playing together for Parnells the next.

“Off the field best of buddies. On the field as hurlers, great teammates. But when it comes to football, they will absolutely tear lumps off each other. And that’s a good thing. That’s healthy.” 

Morrissey got involved with the underage coaching and was co-manager of the side which won the 2021 North Kerry U21 title. He was also involved with the U15 side which won the County Féile and went on to win the National Division 3 Féile in Meath. That side will be introduced to the crowd before the Kerry SHC final on Sunday. It is a big boost for the club, says Morrissey.

“I think it’s a huge thing for the underage lads. Twenty years from now not only will they remember winning the All-Ireland Féile but they’ll also remember being brought onto the Austin Stack Park pitch before throw-in and being introduced to the crowd.” 

As well as competition from football, basketball is huge in Tralee, with Kieran Donaghy’s influence attracting many youngsters to the game. Morrissey says the work being done in Tralee schools is helping hurling to grow.

“Schools hurling has grown big time in Tralee. Between Mounthawk, Gael Choláiste Ciarraí, CBS The Green they all have huge hurling teams. The schools play a huge part in it. The more kids you get playing hurling at a young age the more chance you have in life.

“It needs to be developed underage because it’s a lot tougher to convince someone as a 15 or 16-year-old who hasn’t been involved to get involved. Whereas if they’re involved from a very young age and they develop, you can help with their skillset, you can do whatever you need to do to keep them motivated and involved.” 

Morrissey says that the messages of support from the traditional North Kerry clubs after the North Kerry win were heartfelt and genuine. But he doesn’t expect them to last long if Parnell’s success continues and they are seen as rivals.

“When we’re playing in the senior championship, and you’re playing against these fellas, that could be a different story. They certainly won’t be wishing you the best of luck when you’re playing against their club. And rightly so, that’s the way it should be.” 

The rise of Parnells is part of a general feel-good factor around sport in Tralee, says Morrissey.

“Sport is flying it. Warriors - brilliant. Na Gaeil won the intermediate last year, up to senior. Austin Stacks are club and county champions. Played against Rahilly’s in the final. You had nine Tralee players involved in the Kerry senior football All-Ireland winning team this year.

“Tralee is abuzz and Parnells are certainly part of that. Winning the intermediate and going up to senior would certainly propel it on a little bit more. But things like the Féile and winning that North Kerry U21 championship earlier this year certainly helped. There is a buzz there.” 

Seeing four players on the Joe McDonagh Cup final panel just ten years after the club was founded made it a special day for Parnells.

“Massive. There were six involved with the extended panel. Having four named in a Joe McDonagh final in Croke Park was amazing. Brian (Lonergan) and Morgan (Madden) both came on which was even better again for the club. It’s been huge.

“I hope they’ll be in there again next year. Possibly one or two more, who knows. When you go into Stacks Park on a National League day, or a McDonagh day or whatever, and you see Tralee Parnells written in the 26, brilliant.

“Tadhg Brick was our first one, he has this amazing stat which I’m open to correction on. Tadhg had actually played senior intercounty hurling with Kerry before he played a senior game for his club. So having the lads in there is huge.

“You’re very proud. If you’re a young fella who’s involved with Parnells, when you go to watch a game and you see Tadhg Brick or Brian Lonergan that’s huge for a guy. Just like I’m sure it is for some of the young lads watching Mikey and Podge Boyle playing for Ballyduff.” 

The club don’t have their own home ground and are currently based in Caherslee. Morrissey says the numbers at juvenile training leave plenty grounds for optimism for the future of hurling in the town.

“You could go down to Caherslee on a Friday night to watch the underage academy and it’s massive. Car park is jointed, there’s 200 kids with hurleys and sliotars out on the field, it’s brilliant. Parnells are on the rise. There is a senior championship team in this club.”