It is a decade since the idea to revive hurling in the town of Tralee took flight.
They began on the bottom rungs of the ladder, tending to juveniles eager to learn the game and over time that has transferred to adult representation.
County recognition has followed. Six Tralee Parnells players are part of Stephen Molumphy’s Kerry squad this year. They head to Croke Park today to take on Antrim in the Joe McDonagh Cup final. Irrespective of the outcome, a glamour game awaits next weekend as Cork or Wexford will arrive in Tralee to kickstart the All-Ireland series.
Kerry boss Stephen Molumphy. Evan Treacy / INPHO
Evan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
This is a time to enjoy the hurling spotlight.
“There’s a big buzz about it all,” says Stephen Buttimer, the chairperson of the Tralee Parnells hurling and camogie club.
“For a small club, 10 years old, I think we’re punching above our weight to have six lads involved with Kerry.”
The original Tralee Parnells story can be traced back to a century ago, when they competed in Kerry senor hurling deciders. John Joe Sheehy, one of the most famed natives from the town, hurled for them in a sporting career that also featured Sam Maguire glory with Kerry.
The club disbanded in the 1920s before a vision to provide hurling opportunities for youngsters in Tralee came to fruition in 2012.
“A group of parents got together through the Na Gaeil club and they tried to provide hurling training for kids,” says Buttimer.
“Then it progressed and a group of people who loved the game of hurling, Dermot Reen who was our previous chairman and now our juvenile chairman, and a number of others got together and reformed the hurling club Tralee Parnells.
“The fruits of our labour are now coming to fruition. Our U15 team are going to be representing Kerry in Féile which is the first time we’ve won the Division 1 in the county, and now the lads are preparing to go to Meath at the end of June.
Advertisement
“These lads would have been hurling since they were six, seven or eight with us. It’s a fantastic club and it’s people who really wanted hurling and camogie to work, they’ve come in to Tralee and provided the opportunity. We operate under the one club banner.
“We’ve about 400 members, of which about 300 are juveniles. We’ve the six lads with the Kerry seniors and then we’d two with the Kerry camogie team against Laois last weekend as well.”
Underage work was one thing, stepping up at adult level was another.
“Our biggest challenge was we had plenty hurling for juvenile up to U18 but then we had nowhere for them to progress to because we didn’t have senior status. Austin Stacks still had a hurling team until a couple of years ago, a junior club.
“Any of the good hurlers were either playing elsewhere in North Kerry or were not playing hurling. Once we got the status at intermediate in 2019, which was fantastic and we were delighted to get it, it was a case of going back to these lads and asking them to come back in with us, which they did.”
Their flagbearers with the Kerry hurlers are Tadhg Brick, Morgan Madden, Brian Lonergan, Luke Barrett, Darragh Reen and Cathal Dunne.
Brick, Madden, Lonergan and Barrett have been named on the bench for today’s clash with Antrim.
Brian Lonergan in action in the 2018 All-Ireland U20 semi-final. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
Brick was the original trail-blazer, Madden hails from Kilbrittain in West Cork and transferred down after his exploits for the MTU Kerry college team in the Ryan Cup.
Parnells competed in the 2021 North Kerry U21 championship against teams from the county’s hurling heartland, and won that final which was only played in January. Waterford All-Star winner Molumphy was installed as Kerry boss last September and watched the U21 hurling action over the winter with interest, drafting in Parnells players as they progressed.
This is Kerry and Tralee is the county town, which translates to football territory. There are four football clubs within the town and others scattered on the outskirts. Last year’s Kerry senior football final was a local derby between Austin Stacks and Kerins O’Rahillys, an intermediate triumph saw Na Gaeil also elevated to that top level.
The strength of football cannot be ignored. Reen was competing with Na Gaeil in the All-Ireland club football championship in January. Ballymacelligott’s Lonergan was in goal when Kerry won the Munster U20 football title in 2018 and played in the McGrath Cup in December 2019.
“To be fair we get great support from the football clubs and we arrange our main academy on a Friday evening when there’s not a lot of football going on,” says Buttimer.
“We work with each other, so that hurling can thrive as well. The county board give us great support, we’ve a great GDA for South Kerry in Colm O’Brien, who’s from Limerick, and he promotes it as well.
“We’ve a very good coach Ollie Broughton from Clare, who coaches the senior team. It’s primarily locals then also driving it.”
Buttimer was born in Dublin but moved to Kerry when he was young, growing up near Tralee with Churchill his local football club. Like many, a new sporting interest was forged by the pursuits of his children who both got involved in the hurling and camogie sections.
He has filled various roles in Tralee Parnells and can appreciate the benefits of seeing club-mates involved in Croke Park today, along with the prestige of witnessing a star like Lee Chin or Patrick Horgan perform in Tralee next weekend.
“It’ll be fantastic. For the Offaly game in the Joe McDonagh recently, we got to play at half-time, our U9 team. That was probably the biggest home match of the season, Cork or Wexford at home now would be some attraction. We would be encouraging all the kids to come in. It’d be one of the biggest games the town would have seen in a long time in hurling.”
It all helps generate positive vibes.
As a town Tralee is a melting pot for sport. The appeal of Gaelic football is deep-rooted. Tralee Warriors were crowned national cup champions in basketball in January, just six years after being formed. This week saw the dream to bring League of Ireland football to Mounthawk Park in the town with the establishment of Kerry FC, move a step closer to realisation.
The passion for sport stands out, yet amidst the competing attractions there is a growing appetite for hurling.
“There definitely is,” says Buttimer.
“I think the success of players getting onto the Kerry senior and with our Feile team, people are starting to sit up and take a bit of notice. There’s a great buzz around if you come into Caherslee on a Friday evening. We actually don’t have a pitch of our own. We use Kerry’s GAA pitch in the town in Caherslee.
“We were seen as a project for the Munster Council in 2012, I still hear it referred to as that but now I think the project is over. Some people would have questioned whether it would have whittled out. Now we’re in the next phase of our development.
“We want to get a home of our own and drive on. Our ambition is to win the intermediate championship, fourth time of asking now this year, and to get a home of our own, somewhere in the town. We were recently granted a sub-licence to use a pitch in Tralee sports complex for our juvenile players, there’s a GAA pitch up there which has been idle for the last few years.
“I think hurling is on the way up in Tralee and long may it continue.”
- Joe McDonagh Cup final: Kerry v Antrim, Croke Park, 4.30pm – Live RTÉ 2.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'There's a great buzz' - 10 years after being reformed, the Kerry club with players heading to Croke Park
THE SENSE OF timing appears on the money.
It is a decade since the idea to revive hurling in the town of Tralee took flight.
They began on the bottom rungs of the ladder, tending to juveniles eager to learn the game and over time that has transferred to adult representation.
County recognition has followed. Six Tralee Parnells players are part of Stephen Molumphy’s Kerry squad this year. They head to Croke Park today to take on Antrim in the Joe McDonagh Cup final. Irrespective of the outcome, a glamour game awaits next weekend as Cork or Wexford will arrive in Tralee to kickstart the All-Ireland series.
This is a time to enjoy the hurling spotlight.
“There’s a big buzz about it all,” says Stephen Buttimer, the chairperson of the Tralee Parnells hurling and camogie club.
“For a small club, 10 years old, I think we’re punching above our weight to have six lads involved with Kerry.”
The original Tralee Parnells story can be traced back to a century ago, when they competed in Kerry senor hurling deciders. John Joe Sheehy, one of the most famed natives from the town, hurled for them in a sporting career that also featured Sam Maguire glory with Kerry.
The club disbanded in the 1920s before a vision to provide hurling opportunities for youngsters in Tralee came to fruition in 2012.
“A group of parents got together through the Na Gaeil club and they tried to provide hurling training for kids,” says Buttimer.
“Then it progressed and a group of people who loved the game of hurling, Dermot Reen who was our previous chairman and now our juvenile chairman, and a number of others got together and reformed the hurling club Tralee Parnells.
“The fruits of our labour are now coming to fruition. Our U15 team are going to be representing Kerry in Féile which is the first time we’ve won the Division 1 in the county, and now the lads are preparing to go to Meath at the end of June.
“These lads would have been hurling since they were six, seven or eight with us. It’s a fantastic club and it’s people who really wanted hurling and camogie to work, they’ve come in to Tralee and provided the opportunity. We operate under the one club banner.
“We’ve about 400 members, of which about 300 are juveniles. We’ve the six lads with the Kerry seniors and then we’d two with the Kerry camogie team against Laois last weekend as well.”
Underage work was one thing, stepping up at adult level was another.
“Our biggest challenge was we had plenty hurling for juvenile up to U18 but then we had nowhere for them to progress to because we didn’t have senior status. Austin Stacks still had a hurling team until a couple of years ago, a junior club.
“Any of the good hurlers were either playing elsewhere in North Kerry or were not playing hurling. Once we got the status at intermediate in 2019, which was fantastic and we were delighted to get it, it was a case of going back to these lads and asking them to come back in with us, which they did.”
Their flagbearers with the Kerry hurlers are Tadhg Brick, Morgan Madden, Brian Lonergan, Luke Barrett, Darragh Reen and Cathal Dunne.
Brick, Madden, Lonergan and Barrett have been named on the bench for today’s clash with Antrim.
Brick was the original trail-blazer, Madden hails from Kilbrittain in West Cork and transferred down after his exploits for the MTU Kerry college team in the Ryan Cup.
Parnells competed in the 2021 North Kerry U21 championship against teams from the county’s hurling heartland, and won that final which was only played in January. Waterford All-Star winner Molumphy was installed as Kerry boss last September and watched the U21 hurling action over the winter with interest, drafting in Parnells players as they progressed.
This is Kerry and Tralee is the county town, which translates to football territory. There are four football clubs within the town and others scattered on the outskirts. Last year’s Kerry senior football final was a local derby between Austin Stacks and Kerins O’Rahillys, an intermediate triumph saw Na Gaeil also elevated to that top level.
The strength of football cannot be ignored. Reen was competing with Na Gaeil in the All-Ireland club football championship in January. Ballymacelligott’s Lonergan was in goal when Kerry won the Munster U20 football title in 2018 and played in the McGrath Cup in December 2019.
“To be fair we get great support from the football clubs and we arrange our main academy on a Friday evening when there’s not a lot of football going on,” says Buttimer.
“We work with each other, so that hurling can thrive as well. The county board give us great support, we’ve a great GDA for South Kerry in Colm O’Brien, who’s from Limerick, and he promotes it as well.
“We’ve a very good coach Ollie Broughton from Clare, who coaches the senior team. It’s primarily locals then also driving it.”
Buttimer was born in Dublin but moved to Kerry when he was young, growing up near Tralee with Churchill his local football club. Like many, a new sporting interest was forged by the pursuits of his children who both got involved in the hurling and camogie sections.
He has filled various roles in Tralee Parnells and can appreciate the benefits of seeing club-mates involved in Croke Park today, along with the prestige of witnessing a star like Lee Chin or Patrick Horgan perform in Tralee next weekend.
“It’ll be fantastic. For the Offaly game in the Joe McDonagh recently, we got to play at half-time, our U9 team. That was probably the biggest home match of the season, Cork or Wexford at home now would be some attraction. We would be encouraging all the kids to come in. It’d be one of the biggest games the town would have seen in a long time in hurling.”
It all helps generate positive vibes.
As a town Tralee is a melting pot for sport. The appeal of Gaelic football is deep-rooted. Tralee Warriors were crowned national cup champions in basketball in January, just six years after being formed. This week saw the dream to bring League of Ireland football to Mounthawk Park in the town with the establishment of Kerry FC, move a step closer to realisation.
The passion for sport stands out, yet amidst the competing attractions there is a growing appetite for hurling.
“There definitely is,” says Buttimer.
“I think the success of players getting onto the Kerry senior and with our Feile team, people are starting to sit up and take a bit of notice. There’s a great buzz around if you come into Caherslee on a Friday evening. We actually don’t have a pitch of our own. We use Kerry’s GAA pitch in the town in Caherslee.
“We were seen as a project for the Munster Council in 2012, I still hear it referred to as that but now I think the project is over. Some people would have questioned whether it would have whittled out. Now we’re in the next phase of our development.
“We want to get a home of our own and drive on. Our ambition is to win the intermediate championship, fourth time of asking now this year, and to get a home of our own, somewhere in the town. We were recently granted a sub-licence to use a pitch in Tralee sports complex for our juvenile players, there’s a GAA pitch up there which has been idle for the last few years.
“I think hurling is on the way up in Tralee and long may it continue.”
- Joe McDonagh Cup final: Kerry v Antrim, Croke Park, 4.30pm – Live RTÉ 2.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Hurling Kerry Tralee Tralee Parnells