Who is Gavin White? Inside the life of the Kerry GAA captain
The Munster men took on Donegal at Croke Park on Sunday, with wing-back White, providing an inspirational display of football throughout the 70 minutes of play.
From the get-go, White had his hands on the ball, making a burst up the centre of the pitch to score the first point of the game within the opening seconds. Dr Crokes footballer player Gavin White was a noble captain for the Kerry Senior football team on Sunday afternoon as he guided The Kingdom to All Ireland glory. Pic: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
The captain contributed three points to the score-board, and was there setting up scores throughout the game earning himself a well-deserved Man of the Match accolade.
But, who is the footballer off the pitch? Here is everything you need to know…
Gavin attended the University of Limerick where he obtained a BSc in Physical Education and Maths.
Gavin is now a teacher at none other than St Brendan's College in Killarney — the same school that David Clifford teaches in. Kerry's Gavin White and Eoghan Bán Gallagher of Donegal. Pic: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
The Kerry man plays football for local club Dr Crokes, who he has helped win a number of Kerry titles. It was Dr Crokes who put the player forward as an option to captain the Kerry team for the 2025 season.
On Sunday, following Kerry's All Ireland win, Gavin was full of praise for his teammates who he said 'played exceptionally well today.' Gavin White is engaged to his long-term partner Tara Casey, who he proposed to during a romantic trip to Dubai last year. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
He said: 'It was a team performance and our only objective this morning was to bring Sam Maguire back to the Kingdom. We're absolutely thrilled with that.'
Sunday's All Ireland win is the second with Gavin also playing on the 2022 team which had All Ireland glory.
Gavin is engaged to his long-term partner Tara Casey, who he proposed to during a romantic trip to Dubai last year.
EVOKE report that the couple have known each other since their teenage years and event went to the Debs together back in 2015.
Killarney woman Tara is a regular plus one for Gavin during red carpet events such as the PWC All-Star Awards.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Limerick boss Lee says county board 'knifed players in the back' on seeding issue
Limerick football manager Jimmy Lee has said his players have been 'knifed in the back' by the county board and its decision to support seeding the Munster SFC on League standings. With Lee and his players having expressed open opposition to the proposed change in advance of Thursday's Munster Council meeting, the Treaty boss said the decision of the county board executive to go against their wishes and support the motion was 'a vote of no confidence' in him, the rest of the Limerick football management, the Limerick players, and everyone working at all levels to better Limerick football. In a county where player turnover has been a constant problem for their flagship team, Lee was adamant that the decision of the executive to vote against what the players wanted will not encourage them to sign up again in 2026. On Thursday night a proposal that Cork and Kerry be seeded in separate semi-finals for the 2026 Munster SFC draw was voted through. That seeding is determined by Kerry and Cork having the two highest League finishing positions in 2025 of the six Munster counties. Clare, Tipperary, and Waterford voted against seeding the Munster SFC based off League rankings, but Limerick did not, instead siding with Cork, Kerry, and Munster top-brass who voted for the motion. The old system, discontinued as a result of the midweek vote, was that the two teams who reached the Munster final would receive a bye to the following season's semi-finals, but would not be kept apart in the draw. What it has been replaced with is designed to deliver increased Munster final attendances in the wake of dwindling crowds for the past number of years. The Kerry-Clare deciders of the past three years drew crowds of 12,449, 12,059, and 13,181 respectively. 'The Limerick players are feeling like no one has their back,' Lee told the Irish Examiner on Saturday morning. 'They were adamant that they didn't want this. They made their views known in writing. And now the county board, in their wisdom, they have knifed them in the back. That is what it feels like. 'And that's only my opinion, the players wouldn't have expressed that. But looking from the outside in, that's what's after happening.' Lee revealed he has written to county board chairman Seamus McNamara to seek a meeting with McNamara, county board secretary Mike O'Riordan, treasurer Sean Burke, Munster Council delegates John Cregan and Pat Davoren, and football board chairman Wayne Fitzgerald to seek an explanation as to why Limerick voted in favour of a proposal that decreases the likelihood of future Treaty involvement in the provincial decider. He also wants answered why the clubs were not consulted on what way the county should vote at Thursday's Munster meeting. He has yet to receive clarity from any office holder of why Limerick voted as they did. 'It's a vote of no confidence in us,' the Limerick football manager continued. 'I have to go back now and discuss it with the management team as we thought we were on the same trajectory and same page as the county board. It has you second guessing yourself, you know what I mean? 'It's like pushing a boulder up a hill and it keeps coming back down, flattening you. That's what it feels like. 'Does that make me question my tenure? I suppose I question it all the time, because originally they were asking me to do a three-year term. And I said, we'll do year to year. 'But look, it raises doubts in terms of, are we on the same page? And if we're not on the same page, Jaysus we have problems. There's a football board there, they're meant to be promoting football. But like, if they're promoting it, don't you think they'd have made a recommendation to the county board to say no to this? 'It is a vote of no confidence in the lads that are doing work in the academy. I'm trying to keep players within the panel, like you had 16 and 19 that left the last two years. And now I have to go back and try and say, you have to put in an extra effort to get to a Munster final because of the way the county board voted. I'm trying to keep lads in looking out rather than outside looking in. And the county board is just working the opposite way to me. 'Our captain Cillian Fahy, he's getting married next Saturday. It is a busy time for him. I would have said to Cillian last week, we won't be talking until after his wedding. I had to ring him yesterday and he's had to pick up the reins of Limerick football again and try and figure this out, which is unfair.' At a recent end-of-season review meeting involving Lee and members of the Limerick executive, the seeding proposal came up as an 'add on' to the meeting. Lee told the executive members present of his staunch opposition to the proposal. The manager has claimed that it was said to him that if Limerick supported the Munster GAA motion it would lead to an extra football coach being put in place in the county. 'I know politics and stuff comes into play and promises are made. I come from a HR background in the corporate world, and you dot your I's and cross your T's in any agreement. My final words to them that night was, I'd be voting for nothing until I see it in black and white or on paper. Promises were made previously, and we are still waiting. 'Everyone knows there's power and politics within the GAA, but that's where culturally the GAA as a whole is wrong. That to me makes mockery of the whole thing. And here are four inter-county teams suffering because of this. Clare, Tipperary, and Waterford, they're not going to trust Limerick anymore. We said we were against it and the county has voted for it. We sold our soul, and for what? 'It's a kick in the teeth for what we've done this year in terms of reaching a Tailteann Cup final and winning the Division 4 League. We're doing everything to promote Limerick football and then this happens.' ENDS
The 42
11 hours ago
- The 42
Jack O'Connor in a place in Kerry football where he will be celebrated and not forgotten
ONE OF THE gifts Jarlath Burns has brought to the office of the GAA presidency is his intuition when reading the room. The committee is king in the GAA political world, which inevitably and understandably frames the world view of those who clamber to the top and who, in their big moments always lean on appreciation for the collective ahead of the individual; the county committees, the match officials, the diaspora, the grassroot volunteers and the players. But in an All-Ireland final in which the build-up was dominated by three individuals, Michael Murphy, David Clifford and Jim McGuinness, Burns acknowledged that reality in his presentation speech. He celebrated Murphy as the legend he is who came within a game of even bending time to his will as he sought to write the greatest comeback story ever written. He astutely ducked the challenge of articulating the greatness of Clifford, recognising what those of us in the press box have known for an age, that words are as ill equipped to describe the Fossa genius as zonal defences are in curbing him. And he hailed Jack O'Connor for winning a fifth All-Ireland to remind that the game we had just witnessed had been played out to his blueprint rather that of another great manager – despite McGuinness' repeated and genuine efforts all year to give credit exclusively to his players – who was sold as the one who was in the business of winning matches. Advertisement Kerry manager Jack O'Connor commiserates with Donegal manager Jim McGuinness. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO Okay, it is more likely that Burns just wanted to remind that in a year when football lost its greatest manager how fitting it was that another from up the road in the parish of Waterville had his greatness cemented. It was timely too, because this could be the end for him. O'Connor said as much earlier in the year, pretty much confirmed it in the post final press conference before hiding behind mature reflection the following day to muddy the water around his intentions by suggesting he would take a bit of time over it. That might be genuine; he may have had his head turned by heartfelt pleas from his players on a giddy banquet night in the Burlo to give it one more go or, perhaps more likely, he may not have wanted his imminent departure to steal the thunder of his players glorious present. We have the latter on our betting slip. He has a track record of knowing his own mind, which is why he has left this post twice and returned to it twice. And if Carlsberg did departures this is how it would be, winning four trophies despite only entering three competitions, on the grounds that Kerry are now also the unofficial Ulster champions. He radiated a calmness and satisfaction when it was all over on Sunday evening that was a world away from the man who raged against his team's critics just 28 days earlier. He is 64 now and there is a time when living in a pressure cooker is neither good for man nor mind. Kerry manager Jack O'Connor during the homecoming in Tralee on Monday night. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO Those who might think that the demands on managing Kerry are over-egged, a quick yarn which this column witnessed first hand. When Sam Maguire came calling to Caherciveen on the Friday night after the 2009 All-Ireland final win over Cork, heavy rain invited shelter as we waited for the team's arrival. As they finally made their way up the street, we made our way to the doorway of the hostelry where we were joined by another high stool pilot. 'Well, will you look at them there now with the cup and not a word about the All-Ireland that they fucked away last year,' he declared. It is not just the eaten bread that is quickly forgotten, sometimes the bread just baked is too. But O'Connor has not put himself in a place in Kerry football where not only will he not be forgotten, he will be celebrated too. Rightly. There are many attributes that made him the manager he has become, but perhaps the most obvious is a word he likes to use himself, 'cajones.' He has never been afraid to roll the dice. Trace a finger over all his All-Ireland wins and they have been marked by big calls. The introduction of Paul Galvin and Aidan O'Mahony in 2004 providing the raw physical edge that had been exploited up north, going back to the future to put a big man at the edge of the square in the 2006, the reshaping of the spine of his defence in the mid-summer of 2009 by luring Michael McCarthy out of retirement while having to drop Tomas Ó Sé and Gooch Cooper, and, of course, importing a Tyrone coach in Paddy Tally in 2022, which was a poke in the eye to local puritans. This year, he defied a run of critical injuries not by accident but by design, moving Graham O'Sullivan from the full-back line to half-forward became even more valuable as middle options contracted, while the integration of back-up midfielders Sean O'Brien and Mark O'Shea was a masterclass in clarity of coaching and purpose. Related Reads The top 10 moments of the 2025 All-Ireland football championship Where to now for Donegal after a final where they were thoroughly outplayed and outthought? A day of days for Kerry as they complete the Ulster clean sweep Kerry manager Jack O'Connor celebrates the final whistle with Cian O'Connor and Ger O'Mahony. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO His other gift is his nose for management team talent. His recruitment of an athletics coach in Pat Flanagan gave his team of the noughties an explosive edge, the detailing of Eamon Fitzmaurice on video analysis moulded an All-Ireland winning manager and the most insightful pundit to ever be introduced to a microphone in one fell swoop, the introduction of Tally turned the Kerry defence from a leaking sieve into a strong-box. And, then he goes and leaves his best trick for possibly his last one. Working with an entire new management team in a brand new game, he brought in Cian O'Neill – and the desire for Jack to stay will be accentuated by hope that relationship extends to another season – with the focus of returning to a more direct style, providing a different play-book but not necessarily a brand new one. The sight of David Clifford drifting out to the half-forward line last Sunday invited an obvious comparison with James O'Donoghue's selfless role in the 2014 final, when O'Neill was Fitzmaurice's coach. The difference was that the scale of Clifford's talent and rule changes that have left blanket defences wafer thin, meant that this time it was designed to sting and not just stretch. In all of that, O'Connor has left a body of work behind him which has left football's most challenging and irksome constituents with barely a bone to pick. In a land that has made a sport out of doing just that, it may be his greatest validation of all. *****
RTÉ News
14 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Jack O'Connor Kingdom abdication may be on hold as new rules a boon to bluebloods
In his viral rant back in February, Meath manager Robbie Brennan may have asserted that the new FRC designed game was "not Gaelic football" but Kerry proved pretty good at it all the same. Starting next year, they'll be going in search of a 40th All-Ireland title. Their 30th was claimed in 1986 in what turned out to be the final triumph of Mick O'Dwyer's reign. As far as the more exacting elements of the Kerry support are concerned, this probably makes it overdue. It took them only 24 years to get from title No. 20 to 30 (1962-86). It'll have taken at least 40 years to bridge the gap between 30 and 40. Things have been delayed firstly by their own lost decade during the Charlton years and latterly by Dublin's unprecedented hegemony in the 2010s. The prospect of presiding over a 40th All-Ireland title was put to Jack O'Connor last Sunday evening, in an attempt to sound out whether he was really intent on leaving the Kerry job. O'Connor had indicated all year that this was likely to be his final campaign in charge and he reaffirmed as much in the aftermath of the All-Ireland victory. However, something in his tone and phrasing suggested that he might still be persuadable on the matter and the Kerry county board chairman Patrick O'Sullivan said this week they were hopeful he might remain for a crack at the back to back. Kerry have only done the two in a row on one occasion since '86. O'Connor presided over the first leg of said back to back in 2006 before exiting the role for the first time, enabling Dr Crokes stalwart Pat O'Shea to complete the job. That year, O'Connor published his startlingly frank autobiography 'Keys to the Kingdom' in which he was assumed to have burned his bridges with the Kerry county board and several of the players as well. He also outlined his grievances with the made men of the 1970s-80s, a clique who were portrayed as having little respect for him at the beginning of his first stint in charge. Despite all his success over the years, O'Connor has never been subject to unqualified adoration among the Kerry support. Mingling among the fans on the evening of Kerry's league defeat to Mayo in Castlebar earlier this year, the vibe was very much that he'd be gone after this season and no harm either. His strike rate is now in a similar ballpark to O'Dwyer's, with O'Connor procuring five All-Ireland titles in 11 seasons, while the former won eight in 15 years. Added to that, O'Connor's titles were won with different teams across different eras. Having so many All-Ireland titles sitting in the memory bank, Kerry football people have taken to ranking them in the satisfaction stakes. Pat Spillane made clear this week that this title sits particularly high in the list, with Kerry having put manners on their 'nouveau riche' northern foes in the knockout series. For two decades, they've been listening to the Ulster crowd boast of being at the cutting edge of modern football, while talking incessantly of Kerry's soft route through the Munster championship. Now, they've gone and won an unofficial Ulster championship, beating all the big cheeses of northern football by hefty margins. The suspicion at the start of the year that the new rules would suit them more than any other team proved well founded. Their two-point stats had been underwhelming in the league but they made full use of that outlet from the All-Ireland quarter-final onwards. They landed five two-pointers apiece against both Armagh and Donegal, their advantage particularly marked against the latter, who scored none at all in the final. When Tyrone tried a more aggressive defensive tack in the semi-final and pushed out to defend against two-pointers, Kerry found oceans of space in behind and should have scored a barrelful of goals. David Clifford cut a fairly dejected figure at the end of the 2024 All-Ireland semi-final. He'd been rendered peripheral by the crowded defences that pounced on his every move and had been mainly deployed as a glorified decoy in Kerry's win over Derry in a dismal All-Ireland quarter-final. At the end of 2025, he looks unstoppable with the main question now being whether he is the greatest Gaelic footballer anyone has seen. The consensus is tilting that way. Certainly, he looks the most complete player in the history of the sport, as if some executive in the Kerry football factory said "give us something like Colm Cooper again except make him a tank this time". At the moment, the main counter-arguments are coming from Ulster people advancing the claims of Peter Canavan and lads with Hill 16 avatars in their profile posting the picture of Michael Fitzsimons, James McCarthy and Stephen Cluxton displaying their ninth All-Ireland medals. From a neutrals' perspective, the 2025 season concluded on a bum note, with three fairly lop-sided games in the semi-final and final. Before that, the acclaim for the new game among the pundits and the general public was extreme. In an address to the media before the launch of the All-Ireland knockout series, Jarlath Burns, who had assembled the new FRC and appointed Jim Gavin as chairman, proclaimed it a job well done and noted that the word 'classic' was now being regularly applied to games in Gaelic football as opposed to just hurling. There were plenty of dissidents among the managerial and coaching fraternity, many of whom were chafing at the restrictions on their tactical imaginations. Kieran McGeeney was the most consistent critic, making it clear that he regarded the 'lump-it-out-there' kick-out rules as random and lowbrow and only introduced at the behest of dinosaur pundits. After the quarter-final loss, 'Geezer' sighed he was more or less helpless when they were destroyed on kick-outs in the second half: "Listen, that's what we (the public) want. We just want to be able to kick the ball out and make it 50:50. People find that more exciting." Former FRC member Malachy O'Rourke also became less enamoured of the new kick-out regulations after returning to the inter-county managerial circuit. The Football Review Committee are not inclined to call it a day and there are a new set of sandbox games planned with a view to further fine-tuning. There are soundings that the FRC now feel they were too hasty in ditching the four-point goal after last November's televised inter-provincial trial games. The overall goals tally was slightly up on 2024, although there were so few last year, this isn't considered much of a boast. With the two-point option now proving decisive in games, there is a feeling that they could do with restoring the premium value of a goal. There are trials being run on restricting the handpass, though similar exercises before had apparently resulted in players poking lateral five-yard footpasses to one another. Still, the handpass, the bete noire of the traditionalists, remained as prevalent as ever, with the ratio of handpasses actually increasing in 2025. At the end of 2024, the talk was that the age of empires was over and we'd arrived at a new democratic era in Gaelic football. That was borne out in Leinster, where Meath's win over Dublin was one of the landmark results of the summer, ending the capital's 15-year unbeaten run in the province. Louth subsequently won their first provincial title in 68 years, on a day when the Croke Park atmosphere had an All-Ireland final like grandeur. For the preceding years, the Leinster football final had been a zombified affair, with Dublin collecting routine title after routine title in front of fast dwindling crowds. But the season ends with predictions that another spell of Kerry dominance is looming, in light of the emphatic manner in which the All-Ireland was won and their excellent age profile. The finely-tuned zonal defences in Ulster have proven inadequate against the elite forward units under the new rules and a rethink is required. Tyrone have a wave of decorated Under-20 players coming, although some of their veterans - Peter Harte, Mattie Donnelly - are coming close to the end of their careers. Dublin, challengers in Leinster for a change, are still to appoint a new manager and haven't been pulling up trees at underage level in recent years. Despite their manager's misgivings, Meath were one of the biggest beneficiaries of the FRC's handiwork though the semi-final pasting was a sobering afternoon. After a strong start to the year, Galway struggled to find their rhythm and again struggled to get Damien Comer on the pitch. Their defence had difficulty working the ball out with costly turnover goals conceded against both Dublin and Meath. It was a year of upheaval of Mayo, who failed to find any forward momentum. Kerry have found the back-to-back a tough ask in the modern era and they may struggle to replicate the siege mentality they brought to the All-Ireland series this year. But regardless of who is the manager and the tweaks that the FRC have planned, they look intimidatingly well placed for the next couple of years.
