Former team mates and Offaly GAA retain cherished memories of a flamboyant 'Rock and Roll' football hero

KEVIN Kilmurray's former team mates and many of his admirers have retained cherished, powerful members of a flamboyant, larger than life character who helped brighten the Offaly GAA world from the late 1960s into the early 1980s.

The Daingean superstar passed away at the weekend at just 72 years of age after a battle with illness. He was a brilliant footballer during his long career, winning a host of medals at county and club level.

Living in Dublin for most of his life, Kilmurray was a hugely effective centre half forward as Offaly won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1971 and 1972. He won five Leinster senior football medals, a Leinster U-21 one, two All-Stars; All-Ireland club medals with UCD; Dublin senior football medals with UCD and Civil Service; and a Railway Cup with Combined Universities in 1973.

A charismatic, engaging character, team mates have recalled a man who generally sported tanned legs, wore white socks at training, presented himself very well and looked more like a “rock and roll star than a footballer” - but who was such a serious operator on the football fields; a fearless, no holds barred footballer with tremendous drive and will to win, an inspiring character who encouraged young players arriving on the scene as the great team of the early 1980s emerged.

The following are some of their memories:

Willie Bryan (Walsh Island): Offaly All-Ireland winning captain 1971

“Kevin was a great leader. In our time, he was the best centre half forward we had. He was not blessed as a natural scorer. He could kick the impossible point and miss the easy one but he was a fighter. He fought for every ball and he fought this latest battle as well as he could.

“He came a bit after the minor team of 1964 and we had to have those guys who could fill the gaps. All the minors were never going to make it. Kevin was a very good addition from day one. Once he settled into the team, he was a great help to us building a good team.

“There was a cockiness about him and he was good to throw his weight about. He was very effective in winning ball and the fellows on the wings and inside him benefitted from what he generated.”

Sean Lowry (Ferbane): Offaly team mate from 1971 to 1980

“Kevin was an ever present on the teams I played on. He was a couple of years older than me but we won Leinster U-21 medals together in 1971.

“He was always the “Bond” man, the fellow that was always tanned and seemed to be having a good time. He was a student until his middle 20s which was unusual at that time. He went to America every summer and was flying home for matches which was again unusual at that time. It wouldn't be unusual now. He was living the dream.

“In the early 1970s, he was was one of the youngest on the team but he played a huge important role between Johnny Cooney and Tony McTague.

“I used to always have the craic with him and ask him did he ever score for Offaly. He would get mad at that and say he scored two goals in two All-Ireland semi-finals. He also got a very important point in the 1971 All-Ireland final against Galway. He would pretend to rear up but it was all in jest. He was a lovely fellow and he had a great passion for Offaly and Daingean, even though he lived in Dublin practically all his life. He never missed a golf outing on the many tours we went on.”

“He was very encouraging to all the younger players coming on the scene as he got older. Unconsciously as footballers, we would encourage younger fellows. He was very good at it. He had that aura about him. There was a great confidence about him and that brushed off on other people.”

Johnny Mooney (Rhode): All-Ireland SFC medal winner in 1982

“My first memory of Kevin was as a kid growing up. We all followed the 1971 and 1972 team. They trained in Edenderry and crowds were going in there every night to look at them. I went in there regularly. Kevin Kilmurray stood out. He looked more like a rock star than a footballer. He was tanned and he always wore white socks. He stood out from the rest.

“Roll it on a few years to 1976 and I was 17 when I joined the Offaly panel. I got to know him then and he was very helpful. He knew me from Daingean and Rhode and he put his arm around me and welcomed me in. I always remembered him for that.

“He had a great knowledge of Dublin football and along with Eugene McGee, that was a great help to us as a team. He had been left off by Eugene McGee but was brought back. There was a great bounce between him and Eugene McGee but in a good way. They knew each other well from UCD. No more than the rest from 1971 and 1972, he was a huge driving force and he helped us to believe in ourselves. They did it and they had a great belief that we could do it. He always gave that message. He was a real charismatic figure. He was a character, a very nice man and he had time for everyone. He enjoyed himself. He loved his football, he loved Offaly and he loved Daingean.

“I always remember a sort of factories league game around or just before 1980. Farrington's, a fertiliser place in Rathcoffey were playing a Mountlucas selection in a challenge. A heap of lads from around here worked in Farrington's. The opposition was called the Mountlucas Shinbreakers and him and Liam Hanlon came down and played with Mountlucas. That was a measure of Kevin, that he made the effort to come down and play with the fellows he grew up with in a novice game. I was a sub, Kevin told me I wasn't good enough to play in it!

“That was mighty craic. The Mountlucas Shinbreakers were undefeated and that match included Liam Hanlon, Peadar O'Grady, Mick Wright, Kevin Kilmurray who were all Offaly players; Aidan Kilmurray, Anthony O'Grady, Tony Curley, John Colgan, John (Beezy) Glennon, Sean (Blackie) Quinn, Jim Nyland, Eamon Nyland, P.J. Cocoman and myself. The cup was transported from Rathcoffey to Seery's in Daingean where the celebrations went on for three days.

“Kevin always turned himself out in style. He was immaculately dressed and he wore white socks all the time in training as well as having tanned legs. Himself and Paddy Fenning were really the heartbeat of Offaly at that time. They were great mentors to us young lads coming up.

“They were very important to us winning Leinster in 1980. In training and during our preparation, they were up there and they were very focal. They were mad to get at Dublin. That was brilliant for us. We had lost to Dublin in 1978 and 1979 and Kevin and Paddy were in there in the thick of things in that 1980 Leinster final. It was a very dogged game and they were taking hits and getting us over the line.”

Ollie Scally (Ballycommon): Former Daingean team mate

“I only really played with Kevin Kilmurray for one year. As a 17 year old I was on the Daingean senior team for the first time and we got to the county final where Tullamore beat us. Kevin, Mick Wright and Liam Hanlon were the main men at the time. Ballycommon won the junior in 1977 as well and we went senior so I only played with Daingean and Kevin for one year at the time.

“We all know what Kevin was, an all action man. He was an all action footballer but he was also a very nice fellow, a gentleman to deal with and he was always lovely to talk to.

“He was very encouraging and very helpful to younger players. He would always encourage you to keep going. Other lads on the team would ignore you but Kevin would always give a helping hand. I had good time for him.

“He was an excellent footballer, all action and always going. He was very determined. I met him several times on golf outings afterwards and I also dealt with him at work through the company. He was always a gentelman to deal with.”

Richie Connor (Walsh Island): Offaly 1982 captain

“Kevin was my hero as a teenager. His style, he always looked well and he was a sort of a superstar in his era. The dashing way he played football, his devil may care attitude stood out. He was a hero. Then when I came into the Offaly team in 1974, it co-incided with things falling a little bit but Kevin was so positive and so encouraging to young lads. He made them feel like things were possible and they could win any game. He was huge that way.

“He was very involved in Eugene McGee coming to Offaly and was part of the 1980 Leinster breakthrough win. It wasn't that he looked for attention but he had a natural way of saying little things and making you feel it was possible to beat these guys. He led by example. It was not so much what he did on the field of play in 1980 but his overall presence and influence on players was huge.

“I have absolutely no doubt that we would not have won in 1980 without the lads still there from 1971-1972: Kevin, Martin Furlong, Eugene Mulligan, Sean Lowry, Paddy Fenning, Mick Wright. I came on in 1974 and Dublin won every Leinster from 1974 to 1979. It was almost like now. You felt they had a divine right to win. We were a small county in the midlands and they were a super power, a massive city. It was a huge physchological barrier and Kevin Kilmurray, Martin Furlong, Sean Lowry, those boys instilled the confidence in us that we can do this. They were very positive, hugely determined. They were not fake, they were very honest and true.”

Michael Duignan (Durrow and formerly St Rynagh's): Offaly GAA chairman

It is another very sad week for Offaly GAA. Kevin was an outstanding servant to Offaly, a brilliant player on the breakthrough team of the early 1970s. His record speaks for itself when you look at the honours he won with club and county. It is terrible to see him going at a young age and following his team mates, Kieran Claffey, Mick O'Rourke, Paddy Fenning and Larry Coughlan. They were all taken far too young.

“I got to know Kevin on a personal level over the last fifteen years, mainly thrugh golf. I was on several trips away with him and he was a most engaging and sociable man. I always enjoyed his company and on behalf of Offaly GAA, I extend condolences to his family, team mates and friends.”

Padraig Keating: Chairman Daingean GAA Club

“On behalf of Daingean GAA we would like to express our deepest sympathy to the Kilmurray family.

“While Kevin was a long time gone from Daingean I can say without doubt he was a true Daingean Gael. He always had a keen interest in what we as a club were doing and as he’d say “ how are ye tracking this year”.

“Kevin was always at the end of the phone to me as a chairman with advice or contacts, not afraid to tell me what I was doing wrong but always finish with a kind word like, you doing a great job keep it going. Kevin was very generous with his time to us as a club and a team back in 2014 when we won the junior A. He took some sessions as we progressed through championship and was at latter games that year to give management team his view on things.

“Kevin is Daingean GAA's only All Star and not once but twice 1972,73 and it is something we as a club are very proud of and never tire of telling young boys and girls about. A legend of Daingean Gaa and someone who will always be part of our club. May he rest in peace.”

Colm Quinn (Ballycumber): Offaly player under Kevin Kilmurray in 2005 and 2006

“You couldn't but like Kevin Kilmurray. He had huge passion and huge energy. We all saw that from our very first meeting with Kevin. Of course we all knew of Kevin and the legendary player that he was. He had that instant respect but it was his passion, drive, energy and love of Offaly that shone through. He had a real passion for doing well and that struck us the most.

“It wasn't an easy time to come in. We were after winning Division 2 the year before under Gerry Fahy and everyone would have seen that we went well and felt did it need to change? When Kevin came in, however, everyone could see that he was there for the right reasons and they bought into that. He wanted Offaly to do well, he was a passionate Offaly man and he had done it all himself at every level.

“No one could doubt why Kevin was there and it was very easy to be in his company. He was a great character. We retained Division 1 status in his first year and went down the following year but then had a very good championship run. He had complete belief in what he was doing.”