An Austin Stacks Legend Was Inducted Into The GAA Hall Of Fame Today

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John O’Keeffe receiving his Hall of Fame honour earlier today. Photo: GAA.ie/Twitter

A KERRY and Austin Stacks legend received the honour of being inducted into the Hall of Fame at the GAA Museum in Croke Park earlier today.

John O’Keeffe was a member of the Kerry senior team from 1969 until 1984 and is regarded as one of the most stylish and accomplished full-backs in Gaelic football history. He joins other Kerry legends, Joe Keohane, Dan O’Keeffe, Sean Murphy, Mick O’Connell, Pat Spillane, Mikey Sheey and Mick O’Dwyer in the illustrious Hall of Fame.

He was inducted today along with Galway hurler John Connolly, Wexford’s Tony Doran and Roscommon’s Dermot Earley Snr (represented today by his son Dermot Jnr).

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O’Keeffe won seven All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals and 12 Munster Championship medals. Other honours he won include seven National Football League medals and eight Railway Cup medals between Munster and the Combined Universities. He also won a Munster Junior Championship medal in 1969.

He is among the leading recipients of GAA All Stars Awards, with five awards from 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978, and 1979. He was also named the Texaco Footballer of the Year in 1975.

He was captain of the Austin Stacks team that won the 1976 County Senior Football Championship, he also won medals in 1973, 1974, 1979 and 1986 (following a brief comeback), as well as a Munster Club Championship in 1976 and an All-Ireland in 1977. He also won a County Minor Hurling Championship with the club in 1967.

Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Aogán Ó Fearghail congratulated the players on being named on the prestigious list which acknowledges their massive contribution to the GAA at the highest level over a prolonged period.

He said: “I am delighted to welcome four legends of our games as the latest entrants to the Hall of Fame in light of their fantastic contributions to the games and to the GAA as a whole.

“These men left an enduring legacy having helped define the GAA experience for a generation of our supporters. They remain to this day synonymous with all that is good about our great Games – inspirational warriors and sportsmen who played an important role in preserving and nurturing football and hurling for future generations.

“Dermot Earley, John O’Keeffe, John Connolly and Tony Doran are fully deserving of this distinction and it’s another opportunity for us to pay respect and gratitude.”

3 Comments

  1. Billy Daly says:

    Well done Johnno , nobody deserves it better than you .

  2. johnpaul leen says:

    Well done john well deserved

  3. Danny O'Leary says:

    Legend is a word that is overused in today’s society, not for this man though : a true legend.

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