'Alright Shane, we forgive ye for Seamus Darby and 1982': The Kerry jerseys at the Ryder Cup celebrations

A group of Europe supporters from the Kingdom were front and centre at Bethpage on Sunday night. 

KINGDOM COME: Shane Lowry of Team Europe celebrates with fans -- including a group from Killarney -- after the 15-13 win over Team United States at Bethpage in Farmingdale, New York. Pic: Harry How/Getty Images

After reacquainting themselves with Sam Maguire in July, some Kerry fans were celebrating with another coveted piece of silverware on Sunday – this time in the unfamiliar surrounds of Bethpage Black Golf Course in New York.

Ireland’s Shane Lowry was the hero of the hour as he holed a pressure putt on 18 to ensure that Europe would retain the Ryder Cup on US soil. When the popular Offaly man got his hands on the trophy, he ran to celebrate with a large group of supporters who had congregated behind temporary security fencing nearby.

Amongst the ecstatic crowd, and within touching distance of the Offaly legend and the famous trophy, were seven Kerry men and women, all decked out in the county's famous green and gold GAA jersey.

The joyous scene was captured on live international television, beaming Lowry and the Kingdom contingent to all four corners of the earth.

Lowry later shared the video on his Instagram account and photos of the magical moment have been published online by The New York Times, The Times of London, the BBC and Sports Illustrated.

One might call it a moment of reconciliation between two counties. In 1982, Lowry’s father Brendan and uncles Seán and Mick were part of the Offaly side that beat Kerry in one of the most memorable All-Ireland football finals of all time. For the Kingdom, the last-gasp defeat ranks as the most painful in their entire sporting history. At Bethpage, however, it was all smiles for Kerry and Offaly alike.

The Kerry folk front and centre alongside Lowry were couples Kevin and Nicola O’Callaghan (Killarney), Gary and Andrea Kerrisk (Beaufort), Simon and Maria Gallivan (Killarney), and Maria’s sister Katie Kelly (accompanied by her husband, Shane, who hails from Tipperary and was not in Kerry colours). Also with the crew was friend Jerh O’Sullivan, a Firies native who now resides in New York.

Kevin, Gary and Simon are members at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club.

Shane Lowry is congratulated by supporters in Kerry jerseys.

Kevin says celebrating with Lowry (and McIlroy, who later followed Lowry into the crowd) was a crazy experience and one they will never forget.

“It was mad how it worked out,” he told the Irish Examiner. “It was such a fluke. It looks like we planted ourselves in that spot but we just ended up in this field near 18 by chance when there was no one else around. We were following the action on 18 and all of a sudden things got very tight on the scoreboard. Then we looked around and were like, ‘Jesus, that’s the Ryder Cup there!’ It was on a podium five yards away. That’s when we realised we might be in a deadly spot. Within 10 minutes there were thousands of people around us.” 

When Europe eventually won (thanks, in part, to Lowry’s crucial putt) the presentation of the trophy happened directly in front of this large crowd, but the players all had their backs to them as they celebrated facing the grandstand. This prompted the supporters in this area to chant, “turn around, turn around, turn around”. The players heard their cries, and Lowry led the charge.

“It was the girls’ decision to wear the Kerry jerseys,” Kevin admits. “We had these stupid blue and yellow Europe outfits picked out but the girls said they were awful. We saw loads of people wearing GAA jerseys on the day. It was a great way of meeting Irish people and having the craic.

“We came across one guy in a Kerry jersey and we asked him to get in a picture with us. It turned out he wasn’t even from Kerry. He said he just wore it for a bit of attention!” The sight of a Kerry jersey at major golf events has almost become par for the course. The green and gold has made several appearances at the Masters at Augusta in recent years.

Away from the golf course, individuals wearing Kerry jerseys have been observed at several other large-scale, televised events, such as Euro 2020 when two Kerry men were seen celebrating amongst Italian fans as Jorginho’s penalty defeated the host nation, England, in the final.

Earlier this year, three Kenmare lads in Kerry jerseys were spotted on Sky Sports enjoying the World Darts Championships in Ally Pally and, in 2013, former Kerry player Kieran Donaghy was pictured wearing his own No. 14 jersey at the Super Bowl in New Orleans (though this incident was not captured on TV).

In 2022, video footage emerged of a Ballybunion woman who braved the 16km queue to pay her respects to the late Queen Elizabeth as she was lying in state in Westminster Hall. Naturally, she was wearing her Kerry jersey too. (The Ballybunion woman, that is. Not the Queen.) Bizarrely, a vintage Kerry jersey also appeared in a music video shot in Morocco in 2018. In the video for rapper French Montana’s track ‘Famous’, an unknown man in the background of one scene is wearing the Kerry 1998 shirt while smoking a shisha pipe.

The latest high-profile appearance at the Ryder Cup suggests the trend is still going strong. One wonders where the Kerry GAA jersey will pop up next.