Kevin Kehily, who was laid to rest this week at the age of 74, was one of the most prominent personalities in modern Cork GAA. An excellent full back on county teams for more than 10 years, recognised as such by two All Star awards, the Newcestown clubman also trained the county’s three-in-a-row winning hurling team in the 1970s.
One of a number of players to qualify as PE teachers at St Mary’s, Strawberry Hill in London in the 1970s before Thomond College was established, he went on to lecture on the subject in the former Cork RTC, now MTU and earlier in his teaching career, had been director of physical education at Mayfield Community school in Cork city.
His studies away from home led to his missing the one year in Cork football that mattered most, 1973 when the county won a first All-Ireland in 28 years. As a result of not having that senior medal, he was eligible for selection on the Team of the Eighties, chosen in 2013, from players who hadn’t won Sam Maguire and he was duly selected at full back.
As an underage player, he had won All-Irelands at minor and under-21 in the half backs before gravitating to the edge of the square. There he had memorable tussles with the most terrifying full forward of the age, Eoin Liston and it was no coincidence that his two All Stars were in years that he had played exceptionally well against the big Kerryman.
Both years, 1980 and ‘82, Cork played Kerry in the league final as well as in the Munster decider.
When Cork won the NFL in 1980, Seán Kilfeather’s report in The Irish Times noted that Liston “never shook off the determined attentions of Cork full back, Kevin Kehily,” whose performance he described as having “a central role in Cork’s victory”.
The 1982 final went to replay but both days Kehily played very well on his Kerry rival, restricting him to 0-1 over the two matches and getting to grips with his opponent’s deeper lying role in the replay.
He repeated the performance in the provincial final later that year, which also ended in a draw, before Kerry won easily won the replay.
In the 1979 Munster final when well beaten by Kerry, Cork kept Liston scoreless and Paddy Downey, Irish Times Gaelic games correspondent, said that “Kevin Kehily played an outstanding game at full back”. He was later that year nominated for an All Star.
If the singular focus on Eoin Liston appears strange these days, it has to be remembered that under the old knock-out system, Cork’s only serious championship match most years was against Kerry and for eight years, from 1975 to ‘82, Cork played no championship fixtures outside of Munster.
It is testament to Kevin Kehily’s levels of performance that he managed to break through the limitations of the system to earn the individual recognition that he did.
Remarkably, he also trained Cork’s three-in-a-row hurlers when also playing for the county’s footballers. In October 1975, Fr Bertie Troy was appointed coach of the hurlers and Kehily his physical trainer. It was even suggested at the time that the Cork footballers and hurlers train together to facilitate his involvement.
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