Tim KennellyThe sudden death of Tim Kennelly after a heart attack, at the age of 51, is the first among the golden generation of Kerry football that dominated the game to an unprecedented extent in the 1970s and 1980s. It is also the first of a player from the Kerry-Dublin rivalry of 30 years ago, which has gone down as one of the great eras in GAA history.
Strong and inspirational, Tim Marian Kennelly was a quiet man on a team of many extroverts, but his contribution to the team was invaluable and recognised by all who played with and against him. Affectionately known as "Horse", he was in the words on one teammate "the first guy you'd want with you in the trenches".
Born in Coolaclarig near Listowel to Margaret (née Hudson) and Michael Kennelly, he grew up in a farming family, and was a retired publican and farmer. He went to school in Tullamore NS in Listowel and St Michael's College, also in Listowel.
Although from an early stage of his adult life he had embarked on a career in the licensed trade, farming remained a passionate interest and he maintained an involvement in the family farm.
The local Listowel Emmets GAA club was another passion and his contribution lasted a lifetime: from his days as a player, during which he helped the club to a North Kerry championship in 1976, to his later years as a team mentor and club administrator. When Emmets embarked recently on a redevelopment he was involved in the fund-raising.
But it is as a player that Tim Kennelly will be remembered. Mick O'Dwyer brought him into the Kerry set-up as an under-21, and in 1975 he was on both senior and under-21 winning All-Ireland teams.
The peak of his career came at the end of the decade when he captained his county to the 1979 All-Ireland against Dublin, and a year later when he was the outstanding player in the 1980 final win over Roscommon.
He was a specialist centre back. Described by one football authority as "a centre back who could have played in the 1940s and '50s", Kennelly had all the traditional virtues of a defensive pivot.
Tall and powerful, he dominated in the air and held the middle, leading to fascinating clashes with Dublin's Tony Hanahoe, who played a roving role at centre forward, trying to draw his marker out of position. In addition to his conventional attributes and ability to hold the middle, Kennelly was also well capable of playing more adventurously when the situation demanded. He could, in the words of a teammate, "take a game by the scruff of the neck".
The list of his honours is extensive: five All-Irelands (1975 and 1978-81), nine Munster titles (1975-82 and '84), two National Leagues (1977 and '82), four Railway Cups (1977-78 and 1981-82), two county championships with divisional side Feale Rangers (1978 and '80), a North Kerry title with Listowel in 1976 and two All Stars (1979 and '80).
Off the field he was a popular member of the team, shy and reserved but pleasant and in the words of someone who knew him well: "Completely without hidden agendas and totally honest." For all that he was a quiet man, his knowledge of football was deeply respected and he had the unusual distinction of being a selector while still playing, the last Kerry man to have done this.
"Timmy had a great, great grasp of the game," recalled one fellow selector. "He'd surprise you with his knowledge of the game. He had great insight into players and rarely got it wrong. A lot of lads could spoof about football but you listened to him."
Ultimately, his involvement in management shortened his career. He said in an interview years later that he had retired at the early age of 30, midway through the 1984 season, because there had been talk in the county that he was selecting himself.
He was also active in politics. A Fine Gael supporter, he was a key figure in securing a Dáil seat for his former teammate Jimmy Deenihan in North Kerry in 1987, a constituency where the party wasn't represented at the time.
In later years he took great pride as his sons Noel and Tadhg followed in his footsteps. Noel won an All-Ireland with Kerry in 2000 and only last September Tadhg became the first Irishman to win an AFL title. Tim and his wife Nuala were in Australia to see the Sydney Swans' grand final triumph.
Tim Kennelly is survived by his mother Margaret; wife Nuala (née McCroghan); children, Noel, Tadhg and Joanne; sisters, Mary Costello, Joan Herbert, Colette O'Connor, Geraldine Hegarty, Breda McVeigh; brothers, Éamonn and Mike.
Tim Kennelly: born, July 6th, 1954; died, December 6th, 2005