Darragh O Se to retire

[5 Sams]

THIS MORNING in the coffee shop of a hotel in Tralee Darragh Ó Sé will most likely be found for a while in the company of Mikey Sheehy and a handful of All-Ireland medallists from various eras of Kerry's footballing past. They'll be sipping tea or coffee, crumbling scones for the buttering and happily cutting each other to pieces with blades and shafts of wit.

Do any of these Kerry hoors work?

Sitting in the coffee shop having the craic with the lads FFS
Jammy b4stards

Have to agree Full back....a few years ago I went into Charlie Nelligans in Tralee one Monday morning for the breakfast and there was himself, Ger Power and Ogie sitting having the crack.....they have a great time to themselves alright.

Maybe there is something behind it all

I mind in the 90's Ross, DJ or a few of the Down lads would always be knocking about the town.
Not many Down ones floating about now though 5 Sams

It would be the Canal Court on a Saturday night now Full back....and I dont mean the gym

[magpie seanie]

A true legend and would have been regarded as so in any era of the game. As Hardy said a real man, tough as fcuk but adorned with all the skills of the game. The considerable honours he achieved only tell half the story.

[orangeman]

A true legend and would have been regarded as so in any era of the game. As Hardy said a real man, tough as fcuk but adorned with all the skills of the game. The considerable honours he achieved only tell half the story.

No doubt.


He played some ball for Kerry and gave us some entertainment.



As they rightly say, you'll never miss the water till the well runs dry !

[blanketattack]

He looks a bit different now than when he first broke onto the Kerry team...

[BallyhaiseMan]

He looks a bit different now than when he first broke onto the Kerry team...

Yeh 15 years younger and about  2 stone lighter by the looks of it.
An awful horse of a man.

[tyssam5]

'Small for a modern midfielder'

Is Humphries making any sense here?
First is Dara not 6'2" and about 15 stone? We're not talking about the NBA here, that's a fair size of a man in GAA no??
Second he implies that 'modern' midfielders are bigger, would it not be the opposite case that they are generally getting smaller and more mobile?

[Celt_Man]

He looks a bit different now than when he first broke onto the Kerry team...

Yeh 15 years younger and about  2 stone lighter by the looks of it.
An awful horse of a man.

He looks like he is about 14 in that photo!!

[AZOffaly]

'Small for a modern midfielder'

Is Humphries making any sense here?
First is Dara not 6'2" and about 15 stone? We're not talking about the NBA here, that's a fair size of a man in GAA no??
Second he implies that 'modern' midfielders are bigger, would it not be the opposite case that they are generally getting smaller and more mobile?

I suppose the 'fielding' midfielders like Nicholas Murphy, Michael Quirke and co are a bit bigger than 6' 2''.  But there are a lot more midfielders that are more runners than fielders these days.

[Celt_Man]

'Small for a modern midfielder'

Is Humphries making any sense here?
First is Dara not 6'2" and about 15 stone? We're not talking about the NBA here, that's a fair size of a man in GAA no??
Second he implies that 'modern' midfielders are bigger, would it not be the opposite case that they are generally getting smaller and more mobile?

I suppose the 'fielding' midfielders like Nicholas Murphy, Michael Quirke and co are a bit bigger than 6' 2''.  But there are a lot more midfielders that are more runners than fielders these days.

Aye or athletes rather than footballers...

it's a pet peeve of mine boys going on about a fella saying he is a good footballer and all he does is run and couldn't kick a ball out of his way!!

[magickingdom]

i knew this day was coming but its hard to believe darragh will never run out in fitzgearlds stadium again, his contribution to kerry will be sorely missed this summer and if were not collecting sam in sept yesterday will be the day i'll look back on. right up there with mick o connell and jack o shea in kerry football lore. i love his comment in todays times 'listen they wont be retiring the jersey, its there for the next fella'. says it all about the man, hard as a rock when needed yet humble to the very end. thanks for the great times darragh

[GalwayBayBoy]

Walsh fears that Ó Sé will be the last of the breed

Twice All-Ireland SFC-winning midfielder Kevin Walsh (Galway) says the GAA may not see the likes of retired Kerry star Darragh Ó Sé again.

Walsh has joined with the many in saluting the Kingdom midfielder on his retirement from intercounty fare, claiming that Ó Sé possessed "all the aspects of the game needed" by a majestic midfielder.

However Walsh is sceptical of seeing the sort of adequate replacement coming through that one would hope would emerge.

"Football has struggled in the last six or seven years for midfielders," Walsh told the Irish Examiner. "Before that you had six or seven lads on a level, the likes of Darragh, Paul McGrane, John McDermott, Anthony Tohill and Ciaran Whelan.

"But over the last seven years or so things haven't been that strong. People will say players like Darragh Ó Sé are few and far between and that's correct but there's more to it than that.

"Football is changing around midfield and you're just not getting the Darragh Ó Sé's coming through now.

[Midman]

Sad to see him go, one hell of a player. Could mix the fancy with the rough (and I mean that as the ultimate compliment). Kerrys go to man for so long. But if there's one county can replace him its the cute hoor county. A great winner but always gracious in defeat. I remember the interview he gave rte after the 2002 all ireland , you could see the hurt on his face but no excuses , took it on the chin. Legend and a boy you'd love to have a feed of pints with :-)

[Kerry Mike]

Thanks Darragh for a fantastic career in the Kerry jersey.

http://pix.ie/mipix/album/369288  A few pics from All Ireland final day 2009 

We have been blessed in Kerry with great midfielders over the decades and Darragh's name will shine brightly amoungst any of them.
The 1920's gave us the legends that were Bob Stack and Con Brosnan in Midfield
The 1930's gave us Miko Doyle and Johnny Walsh
The 40's had Paddy Kennedy and a list of supporting players in Midfield
The 50's gave us John Dowling and a young lad from Valentia
In the 60's the great Mick O'Connell took centrefield by storm supported by host of great names
In the 70's we started out with Micko and DJ Crowley, then Paudie Lynch & John O'Keeffe took up the batton before passing it on to two young bucks Jack O'Shea and Sean Walsh.
The early to mid 80's were all about Jacko with help from Seanie and Ambrose.
90's had a handful of players filling the midfield berths until a young O'Se came along from An Gaeltacht
The 00's were all about Darragh ably supported by William Kirby, Donal Daly and Seamus Scanlon
The 10's: who will be the next Great Kerry Midfield General to step into these shoes of giants

Great memories of a great footballer and a nice guy too off the field. Enjoy the retirement.

[saffron sam2]

Great athlete. Great career.

Very good thread.

[brokencrossbar1]

As fine a midfielder as I ever saw and someone that you should ask any young midfielder to model themselves on.  I don't think the obituaries for this type of footballer are warranted, the game goes through cycles but at the bakc of it all the easiest way to win is to have 2-3 big men around the midfield who can win primary possession and feed it into your forward line fast.  This will always be the case and whose to say that Donaghy won't become a midfield legend now, or some other young buck from Kerry or elsehwere.

Enjoy the retirement big man, well deserved.