It was not the shortest journey I ever made on November 22 last, but it was almost essential.
It was the launch of what the Western People newspaper described as “an eagerly anticipated” new Mayo football book in Castlebar that night and by one of its greatest GAA football players, John P. Kean.
I had known John P since the late 1970s. He was one of a group of UCD students who shared my family home off the Stillorgan road in Dublin.
They comprised almost a third of a very successful Sigerson Cup team, managed by the late Eugene McGee, who brought special fame to Offaly following its All Ireland final victory over Kerry in 1982.
The students included Kildare’s Paddy O’Donoghue, Kerry’s Ogie Moran, Barry Walsh of Kerry, Paddy O’Halloran (PJ) of Meath.
While John P and me had gone our separate paths over the intervening years, John P remained in contact with the family, particularly with my mother of whom he was particularly fond.
On November 22, John P’s memoir "Off the Crossbar – Glory, Heartbreak and Hard Truths in Mayo Football," was officially launched by former Mayo GAA star Kevin O’Neill. The launch was in Johnny McHale’s bar in Castlebar.
On the GAA football field, John P Kean, a solicitor by profession, won a lot. But the Sam Maguire All Ireland football medal eluded him.
Along with others, he achieved success at underage level, including management.
His success and temperament did not come from nowhere.
His maternal uncle, Jimmy Curran, was on the panel for Mayo’s All Ireland win in 1951. He did not get a medal then as he did not play that day. Many decades later, it was decided to give him and his non- playing sub colleagues a medal.
In one way, Mayo’s efforts to bring the coveted trophy home in recent years mirrors that of Kildare. Both counties having come close to titles over the past few decades.
So it was interesting to see what John P had to say about Mayo’s big dream and the so-called famous Mayo “curse.”
At senior level Mayo came very very close to All Ireland glory, but the final clinical finishes were missing, he argued..
He feels that failings in management and preparation are part of the reason and does not attribute it to any higher heavenly or hellish powers.
In fairness to Mayo, I would say the county has done more than nearly any other to consistently challenge the might of Dublin in its glory years.
John P captained Mayo to an All-Ireland minor football title in 1971 and was a key player in their under-21 All-Ireland three years later.
With University College Dublin, he won four Sigerson Cup medals and two All-Ireland club medals.
He played with the Mayo senior team during the 1970s, but there was no Connacht senior title for them.
His "off the crossbar" shot in the 1975 drawn Connacht final against Sligo summed up Mayo’s decade, hence the book’s title. That year, he was named Mayo Footballer of the Year for the second time.
John P managed Mayo Under 16s from 1978-80 while still playing senior for Mayo and he was heavily involved at coaching and committee level in his own club, Claremorris, before returning to the Mayo Under 16s from 1993 to 1995
He was Mayo minor manager for seven seasons, winning five Connacht titles and reaching two All-Ireland finals between 1996 and 2002.
He is steeped in Mayo football and his three sons in law, Enda Varley, Darren Coen and Jason Gibbons, are former Mayo footballers.
John P's book should be interesting reading, not only for Mayo people, but for anyone who loves their county and has dreamed about its success.
John P recounts his many battles with the Mayo County Board, including his questioning of a major financial project in the county. And how he was the “most hated” player in Mayo, along with Liam McHale.
He writes of legal threats to a radio station following his comments in an interview and of what one would describe as “hate mail.” And this was before our modern phone based social media emerged to enthrall us all.
John P does not fail to mention what he felt were his own failures on the field, despite an impressive CV. These include playing for the Mayo Soccer League in the Oscar Traynor Cup for inter league teams.
He does not hold back. And when he ran for election to Mayo County Council in 2014, narrowly losing out, a contact told him he was “far too honest” for politics.
John P certainly does not hold back on the people he admired.
They include Kildare’s Eamonn O’Donoghue, described as “kind, intelligent, thoughtful, completely authentic.” Eamonn was one of John P’s Sigerson Cup team captains in UCD.
Another of his Mayo heroes was Kildare-based Willie McGee.
The book is dedicated to his late friend and mentor, Austin Garvin.
John P tells of his own family, his uncle, Father Michael Keane, a rebel inside the church; his great grandfather, John Kean, who set up a business in James Street, Claremorris in 1866; his grandfather’s interest in the Fenian movement; his cattle dealer father and his mother, Ita, who ran the family shop for 40 years.
John P Kean's book is on sale in bookshops throughout Mayo. It can also be ordered online and posted anywhere in the world via www.mayobooks.ie.
