Tony Leen: Kerry throws a protective arm around its Fossa treasures

The relationship between Kerry folk and their golden Clifford brothers is quietly easing into a more protective phase. It's discernible if you watch closely.

SURGING: David Clifford breaks clear of the tight marking of Gaeltacht, and Seán Ó Cuinn in Sunday's Kerry IFC final at Austin Stack Park in Tralee. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

PETER Twiss, the Kerry GAA secretary was chatting last week to a football man of lived hands and dry wit. He’s seen some world. It took about as long as an egg timer for chat to turn to Kerry’s All-Ireland and the Cliffords. Had he seen anything in his time in Kerry as obsessive as the clamour around the Fossa brothers?

He told of being outside Austin Stack Park back in the early 60s when South Kerry were after three county titles and Mick O’Connell was in his early twenties. Fans would time their arrival outside the Pavillion in Boherbee to greet O’Connell, to touch the hem of his garments, as he made for the gates and the dressing room before Championship. He’d wade calmly through the crowds to get in to play a local championship match. The GAA schedule wasn’t nearly as manic then as now, so these occasions might only arise three or four times a year, if even.