John Kiely (1927–2004) was an Irish sportsperson. He played

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

with his local club

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of ...

and with the Waterford senior inter-county team in the 1940s and 1950s.

Playing career

Club

Kiely played most of his club

with his local

club. He played in two county finals but never won a senior county medal. Kiely also won junior championship honours with Brickey Rangers and Éire Óg.

Inter-county

Kiely first came to prominence on the Waterford senior inter-county team in the late 1940s. He played in the first round of the Munster Championship in 1948, however, in spite of no further appearances that year, he was still eligible to receive both Munster and All-Ireland medals following Waterford's victories over

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

and Dublin respectively. It would be 1957 before Kiely won his first Munster title on the field of play. Waterford later played

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

in the All-Ireland final, however, victory went to the men from Leinster on that occasion. The team would later come to rue this defeat as an All-Ireland title that they should have won. Waterford lost their provincial crown in 1958, however, the team bounced back in 1959 with Kiely collecting a second Munster title. Once again Waterford subsequently lined out in the championship decider and, once again, Kilkenny provided the opposition. The game ended in a draw, however, when the two sides met for the replay a few weeks later the men from Waterford made no mistake in defeating their near rivals and Kiely collected his first All-Ireland medal on the field of play. He retired from inter-county hurling shortly afterwards. Kiely also won

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

honours with

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

in 1952 and 1957. He was also a magnificent

handballer Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and participated in many Masters. John Kiely died on 18 June 2004.

Teams

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiely, John 1927 births 2004 deaths Dungarvan hurlers Waterford inter-county hurlers Munster inter-provincial hurlers