13/09/2025
𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 - 𝐍𝐚 𝐆𝐚𝐞𝐢𝐥'𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥.
𝐍𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐜𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐲𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟑𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫
Na Gaeil footballers did a meet-and-greet with the club's juveniles on Monday night, exploiting the positive momentum surrounding their march to their first Kerry senior club football final on Sunday. They also held an open press night.
"The seniors volunteered to meet all the underage players of their own volition. Some of the club's older members were there as well, getting photos and autographs,” says club chairman Conor Kavanagh.
"We're all embracing it. It's not every year you get to a final of any description, let alone a senior championship final.”
It's been a whirlwind four weeks for the Oakpark-based club, from beating their Tralee rivals Austin Stacks in the first round on August 15 to overcoming Templenoe, Di**le and Rathmore on successive weekends.
Sunday's club final against Dr Crokes will be their fifth weekend on the trot as they look to strike while the iron is hot and lift the Michael O'Connor Cup.
Kavanagh says Na Gaeil were "quietly confident” they could cause a few upsets this year despite being quoted as 100/1 outsiders at the outset.
"People described last weekend as the biggest game the club has had, so I guess we're going from the biggest game last weekend to an even bigger one this weekend. It's fantastic.”
The youngest football club in Kerry, Na Gaeil was founded in 1979 on the back of some Community Games success in Oakpark.
Strong
"At that time, you had three strong clubs in Tralee: Austin Stacks, Kerins O'Rahillys and John Mitchels,” explains Kavanagh.
"Oakpark had competed in the Community Games at U-12 and U-14 level and the club grew out of that. A couple of very capable individuals spotted that there was a gap for a club on the north side of the town of Tralee. The late Denis Reen was the first chairman, leading some brilliant work through the early years.”
Its progress "wasn't linear” with many "ups and downs” as they started off in the novice grade in the '80s, when "players would have gravitated towards Tralee's more successful clubs”.
But purchasing land within their catchment area on the Killeen Road in 1983 was a statement of intent that was followed by success on the playing field that remains their home 42 years on.
Being the most northerly of Tralee's football clubs benefits them too in the form of a valuable link with Abbeydorney, a hurling club just north of the town with no football team of their own.
If a rising tide lifts all boats, it certainly bodes well for Na Gaeil that the Abbeydorney hurlers are fresh from winning their second Kerry SHC crown in a row, with eight of them playing for Na Gaeil including the Kerry senior hurling captain Oisín Maunsell.
Maunsell is centre-forward for Na Gaeil, with five of his fellow dual players having started the semi-final.
"We have a very good relationship with Abbeydorney and we try to manage the load on the players that we're not trying to make everybody do everything on the double,” Kavanagh says. "The Abbeydorney lads give every bit as much to us as they do to their hurling club "
Na Gaeil won a first novice championship in 1986 before landing the Division 1 minor league title in 1991.
They continued to push on in the 2000s but losing two premier junior county finals, in 2016 and 2018, was a stumbling block that they finally cleared in 2019, beating St Senan's in the final and reaching intermediate for the first time.
Diarmuid O'Connor and Jack Barry were playing as they backed up their county title with Munster and All-Ireland junior club glory.
They didn't stop there and beat Beaufort in the intermediate final in 2021, with another future Kerry player Stefan Okunbor at midfield as they powered to another provincial title.
They lost the All-Ireland intermediate semi-final to Derry side Steelstown Brian Ógs, one of the youngest clubs in Derry who, coincidentally, are on a strikingly similar journey to Na Gaeil having qualified for the quarter-finals of the Derry SFC for the first time recently.
Na Gaeil more than held their own at senior level over the last three years before this magical run.
Being in Division 3 of the league explains their high odds but Na Gaeil are a completely different team come championship, bolstered by the Abbeydorney crew and their inter-county contingent.
O'Connor missed much of Kerry's All-Ireland-winning campaign through a shoulder injury but has returned with a vengeance for the club, winning man of the match against Di**le and Austin Stacks before kicking 0-4 in the semi-final.
Barry has picked up from where he left off since returning from Australia, according to Kavanagh, in a "fantastic boost” for the team.
Okunbor is starring in a rare injury-free run and though Kerry panellist Damien Bourke has missed out through injury, "the stars have aligned” otherwise.
Their Bord na nÓg section is thriving with around 400 juvenile members, while they had five players on the Kerry ladies football panel last year. Young in actuality, at heart and here to stay.
