Soccer finding a place in the Kingdom’s sporting firmament
Football, after all, is endemic to Kerry; brilliantly expressed by successive generations of talented players. Now an additional brand has taken hold and the native sons are embracing the opportunity to illustrate what has always appeared to be a natural talent by competing in another, related, code.
Gaelic football will always be the dominant brand of football in Kerry and nobody would be so foolish as to attempt to challenge that. But soccer is an outlet that is appealing to a growing number of Kerry footballers and the evidence is that it comes naturally to them.
The visit of Cork City to Kerry's soccer headquarters at Mount Hawk Park, Tralee, represented an important landmark. It was the first competitive game at senior level for a Kerry team and while they lost the game, the successful promotion was a triumph that was much more important than the result.
Cork City's much travelled manager Pat Dolan summed it up: "When you drive into the complex you see there are three different bodies there St Brendan's Park, Tralee Dynamos' park and the Kerry District League Park and it is one of the finest soccer complexes in the country.
"What impressed our lads was the quality of the facilities and perhaps there is a lesson there for us in Cork.
"I have always found, from going around the country, that facilities is one part of the jigsaw and perhaps Kerry have not got the other part yet in the form of a League of Ireland club but they have everything else."
The provision of good facilities was central to the growth of the Kerry District League (KDL) in the opinion of a man who was involved from the early days.
"I've been involved since 1972" said Billy Doyle, Chairman, KDL, "at that time Chris Nugent, Michael Henry Snr, Joe Grant from Killarney Athletic and Pat O'Shea, as well, were all involved in that committee, probably a year or two after it all started.
"It seems a lifetime ago but I've had some great years and some great memories and I've met a lot of very nice people through Kerry soccer. Thankfully we're where we are today thanks to those people and a lot of other people who gave of their time and their enthusiasm and, indeed, their money over the years."
The KDL first kicked-off with eight adult teams, now there are more than 40 clubs scattered throughout the county who field teams competing at adult level.
"We've grown from very small beginnings. But, thankfully, today a lot of clubs have their own facilities, clubhouses and pitches, and they are scattered in every part of the county, in Tralee and Killarney, in Listowel and Ballybunion. In North Kerry you have Rathoo near Ballyduff who have two teams, Killorglin have two teams and they have their own pitch as well and that will be opened next season."
The Chairman, like every other official involved, paid tribute to the tireless work of the Hon Secretary of the League, John O'Regan, and his influence at national level with the FAI and the eircom National League.
He championed Kerry's cause to such effect that their development at Mount Hawk received generous financial support from the FAI and the Minister for Sport, John O'Donoghue through National Lottery funds.
The result is the KDL own two pitches and a sand-based training pitch at Mount Hawk. The main pitch and the training area are floodlit and within another year the training area will have a synthetic, all-weather surface to ensure year-round playing capability. The eircom League offered the KDL a huge encouragement last season by inviting them to compete with a county-wide selection in the National U21 League. Kerry won the Munster section and went to the semi-finals where they were narrowly beaten at Dalymount Park by Bohemians.
The competing teams were allowed three over-age players and the same group of players is currently competing in the eircom League Cup. After losing to Cork City, they face a match against Cobh Ramblers at St Colman's Park next week.
Tralee Dynamos proved that Kerry players have what it takes by winning the FAI Youths' Cup some five years ago. Last weekend Fenit Samphires created something of a sensation by beating Cherry Orchard of Dublin in Fenit to qualify for this season's final of the same competition.
Television coverage of the Premiership and the success of the Irish National team have helped popularise the game in the opinion of Sean O'Keeffe, Kerry eircom League Chairman.
"We draw our support from all over. The fact that we can play players from all over the county who are registered with the KDL brings in support from all over the county. We want our appeal to be broad-based."
The basics are already in place and developing first-class facilities, a growing body of talented players so the future expansion is clearly flagged. Said O'Keeffe: "We had average attendances of 400/500 people last year for the U21 matches. Soccer traditionally did not have any crowds down here, it had zero following, so since we started this last year it is starting to grow.
"It is a long process to get fans to come in but the more publicity that the League can get and the more high powered games and the fact the eircom league invited us into this competition continues to lift the profile. But it is all about marketing and promoting and continuing on those lines.
"We know it is early stages but we would be hoping to join full-time. To do that we need bigger crowds, of course, and hopefully tonight will be a good advertisement for that."
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