Article June Week 3 2005
GAA Legend Tom Long, Part 2
Following the dramatic injury time loss to Dublin in the Minor final of 1954 Tom failed to get the call up to the senior panel for the momentous year of "55 which turned out to be one of the most glorious All Ireland victories of all for the green and gold. Studying in Dublin he lined out with his college and the following Sunday he came home to play with West Kerry in Tralee, there were rumors that he might be illegal and this was probably the reason that the Kerry selectors decided not to include the up and coming young star for that season. However in 1956 as mentioned last week Tom got the call for the first round of the championship against Waterford and the subsequent re play defeat in the Munster final to Cork in Killarney. Interestingly his notification was to say the least unusual, "I was attending a dress dance in Dublin when some man decked out in a black suit and Dickie bow informed me that I had been selected for Kerry the following Sunday, needless to say I was
delighted".
It was the beginning of brilliant career, however 1957 was to prove one of the most traumatic years in the annuals of Kerry championship football as we will discover. Events that year had begun well as The Kingdom reached the National League Final. Galway were the opponents as the sides squared up on May 18th in Croke Park. Amazingly it was Kerry's first National League Final since 1930/31 when Miko Doyle had led his team to victory against Cork in that decider. Tom' memories of his first senior national final are vivid, he lined out at midfield partnering Denny o Shea, Jerome o Shea was captain and Marcus o Neill was in goal, while the following players all now sadly gone to their eternal reward were on the starting fifteen John Dowling, "Tiger' Lyons, Tadghie Lyne, Paudie Sheehy, Colm Kennelly, Ned Roche and Dan McAuliffe.
'It was the first time we had met Galway in a league final, we beat Cavan by a point in the semi, 'Gunner' Brady was their captain, Tom Moriarty was superb at centre back for us, and we were six points behind at one stage of the second half, I began at mid field with Mick o Connell and was then moved to the wing. In the final I was again at mid field with Denny o Shea, we led at half time by a point and with five minutes to go we were level. Then they got a great goal. Frank Stockwell gave Sean Purcell a beautiful pass, he ran to the corner flag with the ball, drew the defense, centered and Stockwell fisted to the net and Galway were on their way to America. they were two superb footballers, they added a point each and we were beaten 1-8 to 0-6'.
This had been the most talked about decider in years with the1955 All Ireland champions meeting the 1956 winners, Mick o Connell was missing from the Kerry line up. The former Cork player Billy o Neill was wing forward for Galway, Jack Mahon captained the tribesmen, he and Tom later became great friends and had an emotional meeting at the recent McNamee awards night in Dublin. Stockwell and Purcell were dubbed 'the terrible twins' and were a deadly combination as they proved with that winning goal.
Two months later on 2nd June 1957 in Waterford city Kerry were to experience their most humiliating defeat of all time as the country were stunned by one of the greatest surprises in the history of the GAA in a game that is now part of Kerry folklore. O Connell was back to partner Tom at midfield, however Kerry were without three of their National League final side, Marcus o Neill, Sean Murphy and Tom Moriarty, Deny o Shea carrying an ankle injury was the only sub. available and to alleviate a desperate situation John Barrett, The Kerryman reporter togged out as a sub. and Tim Barrett who had played Minor with Kerry was pressed into service at the last minute in goals. Nevertheless the outcome was considered to be a mere formality and the general opinion was that Waterford would not keep the ball kicked out for Kerry. That's what everybody thought.
Tom's memories of that eventual occasion are clear and vivid. 'We were never as fit going into a game however for various reasons we only just got fifteen players together, we were eight points ahead at the beginning of the second half and well in control. Then Noel Power got a soft goal for Waterford, the crowd of around 3,000 were going mad, and with four minutes to go Jim Timmons of Killrosantey punched another goal and the scores were level. Then almost on full time Tom Cunnigham their centre back came up field to kick a great long rang point to win the match, and we were beaten 2-5 to 0-10'.
So what is the real story behind this historic defeat for Kerry, Owen McCrohan writing in Mick o Dwyer's excellent Biography explains. 'Kerry's troubles started well in advance of this match when a dispute over the captaincy of the team was starting to ferment. As county champions the honor automatically went to a South Kerryman. Waterville as South Kerry champions would normally be free to name Mick o Dwyer as captain however he had not established himself on the Kerry team so the captaincy issue was thrown into the lap of Caherceiven St. Mary who had two recognized members of the Kerry team, Jerome o Shea and Donal (Marcus) o Neill playing for the club'.
St Mary's nominated Jerome following a vote at a club meeting, the repercussions on the Kerry team were serious, Marcus withdrew from the team to play Waterford while as stated two star players Sean Murphy and Tom Moriarty also did not travel. Whatever about the rights and wrongs of the captaincy issue all those years ago in my opinion Marcus was one of the greatest goalkeepers I have ever seen and I base my remarks having seen him win three county championships with South Kerry, 1955-56-58, he also won another with Dick Fitzgerald's in 1951. He was on the losing Killarney side to Castleisland following a re-play in 1951, and his displays with Kerry in the fifties were outstanding, he was one of the great Kerry footballers not to win an All Ireland senior medal.
1958 and the dawn of a new year and as always in Kerry hopes of another All Ireland victory, Tom Long now 22 years old was starring in Dublin however he did not figure in the Munster championship and the great Tadghie Lyne was even an absentee as Kerry beat Cork 2-7 to 0-8. Both men however were back for what was expected to be an easy win over an unknown Derry side in the All Ireland semi final. The West Kerry man explains his recall to the team for that now historic match.
'Kerry played Meath in a challenge game in Tralee the week before the Derry game, I traveled down from Dublin and was happy enough with my display but it was Tadghie who was the star that day, we won 2-14 to 2-6 and he scored 2-6. Both of us were picked for the semi final and the general opinion in the county was,' wait for the final'. Long was chosen at centre foreword and in the programme of the match he was described thus. : A National teacher, Tom returns to the team after a long absence owing to an illness. A star footballer as a minor, he showed glimpses of his best form against Meath recently, a dashing player, a topper overhead and most unselfish in his passing he is a great distributor of the ball and his presence should add greatly to the attack. Age 22, weight, 13st.height 5ft.11ins. All was in readiness for the Derry clash but once again as he had experienced with the Dublin minors, Cork in '56, Galway in the league and especially Waterford the previous year Tom was going to experience yet another shattering defeat.
Weeshie's Week 
