01-05-2025
Kerry men who have tried to topple the Kingdom as Keane takes Clare to Killarney
Peter Keane's tenure as Kerry manager was ultimately defined by his failure to land an All-Ireland in his three-year stint in charge.
Now manager of Clare, he has guided them to a Munster final against his native county in Killarney on Sunday - and if he was to mastermind a sensational win he would become the first manager ever to win the provincial title with two different counties.
Of course, he's not the first Kerry man to plot the downfall of his own and while victory has proved elusive for most that have gone before him, there's one familiar exception.
Mick O'Dwyer
Arguably the most famous result of the recently departed legendary manager's career came in the 1998 All-Ireland semi-final, when his Kildare side beat defending champions Kerry, managed by O'Dwyer's protege Páidí Ó Sé, by a point.
The victory was all the sweeter for the fact that O'Dwyer's son, Karl, himself a former Kerry footballer, played at full-forward for Kildare and scored 0-2.
Four years later, his last game in charge of Kildare was a round four qualifier defeat to Kerry in Thurles as Ó Sé exacted a measure of revenge.
John O'Keeffe
One of Kerry's all-time greats who played alongside O'Dwyer before becoming an outstanding full-back in the early years of his reign as manager, O'Keeffe had spells in charge of Limerick and Clare during which they ruffled Kerry's feathers.
With the seeded draw system dispensed with, his Limerick side came through to reach the 1991 Munster final and gave Kerry a huge fright in Killarney in what was the closest they had come to winning the provincial title since their solitary success in 1896, losing by 0-23 to 3-12.
They met again in the Munster semi-final the following year, when O'Keeffe's charges were only three points adrift but his stint in Limerick ended with a heavy loss to his native county in 1994.
He then went to Clare and steered them to the 1997 Munster final with a famous win over Cork, but Kerry had just too much for them as a Pa Laide wondergoal helped them to a five-point win en route to that year's All-Ireland.
Páidí Ó Sé later added him to his Kerry management team and he was involved in their 2000 All-Ireland success.
Mark Fitzgerald
Having been drafted in as Limerick interim manager in 2023, Tralee native Fitzgerald didn't come across Kerry but after taking the reins in Clare months later, he guided them to a Munster final against them in Ennis.
His side were competitive in a seven-point defeat but the lure of his own county proved too strong as he joined Tomás Ó Sé's under-20 management team last September.
Liam Kearns
A peripheral player for Kerry in the '80s and early '90s, Kearns cut his coaching teeth in Limerick and graduated to managing their senior side, where his reign was defined by narrow losses to his native county.
They were soundly beaten in 2001 but pushed them to four points the following year. In 2003, they lost the Munster final by five points in Páidí Ó Sé's last year at the helm but the closest shave was in 2004, when Kerry got out after a replayed Munster final having been on the ropes in both games.
Kerry beat them well in Kearns's last season in 2005 but he later came across them as Tipperary manager, losing the 2016 Munster final by 10 points.
John Evans
The much-travelled Killorglin man had spells in charge of Tipperary, Roscommon and Wicklow, as well involvements in other counties, but it was only with Tipp that he came up against Kerry in Championship fare.
They didn't trouble them too much as Kerry ran out winners by 12 and 11 points in 2010 and '11 respectively, though Evans doubled up as under-21 manager and in 2010 his Tipp side scored a historic one-point win over his native county in the Munster final.
John Kennedy
A three-time All-Ireland winner with Kerry in the '80s, Kennedy had a three-year stint as Clare manager, the height of which was their 2004 Tommy Murphy Cup win.
Earlier that year, his side was eliminated from the Munster Championship by Kerry on a 2-10 to 0-9 scoreline.
Mickey Ned O'Sullivan
Mick O'Dwyer's first All-Ireland winning captain in 1975, O'Sullivan succeeded him as Kerry manager 14 years later as a difficult transitional phase ensued, although he did win the Munster title in 1991.
He succeeded Kearns as Limerick manager in 2005 went agonisingly close to ending their Munster title drought, though it was Cork that proved to be their nemesis in the province more so than his native county.
In his last year in charge, he finally came up against them in the 2010 Munster final though they lost by 1-17 to 1-14.
