'The job I always wanted' - Darragh Long takes reins at Austin Stacks
NEW MAN IN CHARGE: Ex-Kerry joint manager Darragh Long during the Lidl Ladies Football National League Division 1 Final match between Kerry and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Darragh Long, son of former Millstreet and Cork All-Ireland SFC winner Denny, is the man that Austin Stacks have chosen to replace Billy Lee, who stepped away in the weeks following Stacks All-Intermediate Club semi-final defeat at the hands of Ballinderry.
Long’s name had been in the frame for the past month but it was only at an Austin Stack’s Club executive meeting on Tuesday night that it was confirmed.
Long had served five years as joint manager of the Kerry Senior Ladies team with Declan Quill which resulted in All-Ireland glory last August, ending a 31-year famine.
Long is a popular choice as he was a skilful and free-scoring forward with Austin Stacks in a career that spanned almost two decades from 1998 to 2016. He also won Junior cups with the club into his early forties.
The highpoint of his playing career was helping Stacks annex the 2014 Kerry Senior Football Championship when the Connolly Park side beat Mid Kerry in the final at a second attempt. It ended a 21-year hiatus since the Stacks last won a SFC (1994) and Long is considered a Stacks legend.
When asked about his new role, Long called it “the job I always wanted”. Speaking to the Kerryman newspaper, Long went on to explain that it was a job he could not refuse.
“Obviously I knew the position was there in the last couple of weeks and it was a job I always wanted to do," he said. "I just didn’t know when or how the opportunity might come about. I spoke to some people close to me, spoke to people in the club, and it has come about now. I’m really looking forward to the challenge, there is a brilliant bunch of players there at the moment, and we’re just looking forward to getting stuck in."
Austin Stacks are a senior team this year having spent two years in the intermediate grade and are drawn in a group with neighbours Na Gaeil and Templenoe in the Senior Club Championship that will start in late July or early August, depending on how Kerry fare in the championship.
Long has yet to complete his management team but named Ciaran McCabe (S&C) and Dale Counihan (who guided Tralee CBS to a Taft Cup win last Friday) as members of his staff. McCabe was part of the Stacks management team when Long was involved from 2014-2016 and was also involved with the Kerry Ladies in 2017 for a spell.
Daniel Bohan and Barry Shanahan have been acting in a caretaker capacity in getting Stacks ready for the County League that starts on March 16th.
Meanwhile the transfer of Kerry Senior footballer Donal O’Sullivan (Down) from Junior club Kilgarvan seven miles down the road to senior club Kenmare Shamrocks has been sanctioned by the CCC at a Tuesday night meeting.
O’Sullivan, who is also a talented hurler, has been living in Kenmare for the past year and though registered with Kilgarvan did not play hurling or football with them in 2024. He therefore meets the 48-week residency criteria so O’Sullivan can now line up with Seanie O’Shea, Stephen O’Brien in a very talented Kenmare Shamrocks side. O’Sullivan did play SFC with East Kerry last year but they lost to Dingle at the semi-final stage.
Another Cork man on the move is Aidan Walsh from Kanturk who won an All Ireland SFC medal in 2010, two All-Stars and was Young Player of the Year in 2010.
The now 35-year-old has been an important figure for the Duhallow club helping Kanturk climb from the Junior A ranks to the second tier of Cork football, the Senior A level. Walsh has been living in the An Ghaeltacht parish for the past number of years and has a child with his partner.
The former Cork dual star wanted to keep playing hurling for Kanturk, but a player can only play Championship in one county. The inter-county transfer has to be ratified by Croke Park.
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