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Article May Week 2 2005
John O'Grady Part 2 - Greatest Dual Player

Part 1 can be found in Profiles >> John O'Grady

Continuing our story of the magnificent career of arguably Kerry's greatest ever dual players John o Grady it was very evident when I spoke to his friends and former team mates that one and all held him in the highest regard. While hurling was, as he always admits his first and only true love he was also a very accomplished footballer and that year of 1972 when he won the first of his four senior hurling county championships here in Kerry he also added a football county medal to his name. Just one week after helping Ballyduff defeat Crotta in the hurling he was back in Austin Stack Park on November 5th. John lined out at midfield with Jackie Walsh, Shannon Rangers beat Mid-Kerry 2-8 to 1-7. Great names such as the O’Donoghue brothers Paud and Eamon, "Ogie Moran", he was just sixteen years of age, John Bunyn, Bryan McCarthy, Donie Mulvihill and Conor Heaphy were his team mates that memorable day. And let's not forget that in direct opposition to the Rangers pairing at mid fie
ld were Paudie lynch and Neilly o Sullivan, two outstanding fielders and as good as you would see during that era.

I quizzed John on his ability to play so many games at such a high level, " i was very lucky with injuries, I was always superbly fit and the more games I played the less training I had to do, of course games here in Kerry and those in Cork often clashed and I would always go for the most vital game, I suppose the games were my life really".

Kerry legend "Ogie" Moran who played with John was high in his praise for the dual player, "he had amazing natural talent, he also had great strength and was always superbly fit, this is one thing I always remember of John, all the young lads on those teams looked up to him, he was a star to us back then and I hold him in the highest regards. He could match the best of them at both hurling and football and I don't believe we will see his likes again, it's wonderful to see him being honoured by Terrace Talk to night".

A man who taught John at school Gerald Mckenna Kerry's central council delegate and President of the county board had no hesitation in summing up his ability's. "John's achievements on the playing fields were unique and rare for a Keryman and his collection of medals speaks for itself, let's not forget that he was also a wonderful footballer and in the All Ireland club final of 1972 in which Bellaghy of Derry beat UCC John played a blinder, the game was took place on a Friday night and the following Sunday Kerry were due to play Mayo in the National League, we wanted John for that game but unfortunately we failed to make contact with him in time". (John did play for the Kerry Juniors in Skibereen on one occasion). "There was a great tradition of hurling in the family going right back to his grandfather who played hurling for Dublin away back in 1891. His mother was Lilly Knightly from Keel/Castlemaine and the great Mid Kerry footballer Ned o Shea is also a close relation, so
it was probably from here that the football came, without a shadow of doubt John o Grady was as good a dual player that this county ever produced, you can never say who was the best, it's great to see him being honoured in this way".

While John was a recognised star in his native county it was without doubt in Cork that he really proved an expection to the rule because the number of Kerrymen who could match the best of Corkmen on the hurling field could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and boy did O’Grady prove himself. While a student at UCC he had the honour of winning a Cork senior hurling county championship medal in 1970, two Fitzgibbon cup medals, (Inter-Varsity Hurling) and two Sigerson Cup medals,(Inter-Varsity Football), all in the early seventies, and for good measure a Cork County football championship in '73. That same action packed year the College went on to win the Munster Club title and as stated previously were beaten in the final by the Derry side Bellaghy. And remember that players such as Brendan Lynch, Moss Keand Jimmy Barrett, Dan Kavanagh, Paudie Lynch, Niall Brosnan, and Seamus Looney were on that team and still the Ballyduff hurler was equal to any of them.

Killarney resident Denis Coffey was a team mate of John during those golden years for UCC football and he recalled on Terrace Talk, "he was a mighty man and an inspiration to all of us at that time, he was unbeatable at wing back and I clearly remember one day in 1970 in the Singerson Cup played in Newery we were missing our Kerry senior stars who were gone to Australia with the county, well only for John we certainly would not have won that day, and let me remind people that he was man of the tournament, who he was never picked for the Kerry senior footballers I will never know, he was in my book badly wronged. the best way to describe John as a footballer would be to sat that he was in the very same mould as the great Tim Kennels, that's how good he was".

However it was his displays with the famed Cork Hurling club Blackrock the really copper fashioned John O’Gradys greatness as a hurler and of course as a dual player and he himself admits his All Ireland win with them was the most memorable moment of all in his long and illustrious career. It was an ere of great Cork hurling as Glen Rovers and St. Finbarrs were at a peak, Cork were winning All Ireland senior titles in 1976-77-78 and matching the best of them was the Kerryman.

Blackrock with John at mid field won two county championships and two Munster club titles, going on to beat Ballyhale Shamrocks of Kilkenny in the All Ireland club final of 1979, 5-7 to 5-5. and some of his team mates during that wonderful run were household names such as John Horgan, Tom Cashman, Ray Cummins, Pat Moylan, Frank Cummins and Andy Creagh. He donned the red and white of Cork in tournament games and the story is reliably told that the legendary Christy Ring who was a Cork hurling selector around that period wanted him on the for the championship, the Munster selectors also honoured him and he was on the provincial panel for the Railway Cup during that time.

Married to Mary with three children David, Geraldine and John Paul Stephen and living in the beautiful sea side town of Bantery the story of John o Grady id one of the most inspiring and remarkable i have ever come across, his record at both coads tells it's own story. It is my own personal opinion that he has to be Kerry's greatest ever dual player, each individual reader will of course judge for himself, nevertheless despite the fact that we have barley touched the career of this so versatile a player the most amazing aspect to me is, how did he combine both games at such a high level, is anyone doing this to day?. Let the final word come from former Cork great and Blackrock selector during Johns time there Jimmy Brohan, " we were amazes here that this Kerryman could come up here, match and compete with the very best in Cork and star for us against the best in the country as we won Munster's and All Ireland's, he was a great player".