John O'Keeffe (born 15 April 1951 in

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

) is a former Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er who played for the

Austin Stacks Austin Stacks is a hurling and Gaelic football club based in Tralee in County Kerry, Ireland. Founded in 1917, the club has more All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals and GAA All-Stars than any other Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA ...

club and at senior level for the Kerry county team between 1969 and 1984. He was a highly talented midfielder, and one of the most stylish and accomplished full-backs in Gaelic football history. He later became the Irish international rules team manager.

Personal life

O'Keeffe's father Frank also played for Kerry during the 1940s, playing in the famous 1947 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final in the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He taught history, , and at Tralee Christian Brothers School before retiring after 40 years in 2011.

Career highlights

Schools

He was part of the St Brendan's Killarney side that won the school's first

Hogan Cup The Hogan Cup (), also known as the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Football Championship, is the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools (sometimes referred to as colleges) in Ireland. The competition itself is re ...

title in 1969.

Third Level

O'Keeffe had much success in the

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

with UCD in the 1970s. In all he won three titles between 1972/73 to 1974/75. In 2011 he was picked a Full Back on the Sigerson Cup Team of the Century.

Club

O'Keeffe had much success at club level with

and UCD. He won five

Kerry Senior Football Championship The Kerry Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Garvey’s SuperValu Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 18 ...

titles in 1973, 1975, 1976 as captain 1979 and 1986. He would also captain the side to win the 1976

Munster Senior Club Football Championship The Munster Senior Club Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Munster GAA Football Senior Club Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition for the champion clubs of each county. It has been organised by the ...

and 1977

All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament which began in season 1970–71. It is the top-tier competition for the senior football clubs of Ireland and London. The current champions are Cuala of D ...

. He won a

Kerry Minor Hurling Championship The Kerry Minor Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin Kerry County Minor Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Associati ...

with the club in 1967.He was captain of the side that won the Kerry Minor Football Championship in 1969. He also had success with UCD in the

Dublin Senior Football Championship The Dublin Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the '' Go-Ahead'' Dublin Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Dublin GAA clubs. The winners of t ...

. He won titles in 1973 and 1974. He also won

Leinster Senior Club Football Championship The Leinster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament played on a knockout basis between the senior club championship winners of the competing counties in Leinster. The current holders of the Leinster title are K ...

titles in 1973–74 and 1974–75. He would go on to win

titles with the college in 1974 and 1975.

Minor

O'Keeffe lined out with Kerry at minor level for three season between 1967 and 1969. However it was an unsuccessful time at the Under 18 grade. He lined out in three

Munster Minor Football Championship The Munster Minor Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1928 for the youngest competitors (under-18) in the province of Munster in Ireland. It is ...

finals but was on the losing side to

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

in all three.

Under 21

He moved on to the Under 21 side for four seasons. His first three between 1969 and 1971 like at minor level seen him on the losing side to

. He finally got a win over

in 1972 when he picked up a Munster Under 21 Football Championship title. He would go on to line out in the

All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship The GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the EirGrid GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association ...

but was on the losing side to

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

Junior

While still a minor he joined the county Junior side in 1969. He played part in the Munster championship winning campaign, instead joining for the All-Ireland semi-final win over

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

. He lined out in the

All-Ireland Junior Football Championship The All-Ireland Junior Football Championship is a Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA competition It has historically consisted of two entirely different formats before and after 2021, but has retained the same name. Since 2022, the competition ...

''Home'' final where Kerry faced

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...

. Despite being favorites O'Keeffe and co fell to a surprise 0-12 to 1-08 loss. He was part of the team again in 1970 but another Munster final loss to a

side was his lot.

Senior

He first joined the Kerry senior panel in 1969. He was a non playing member of the that years All-Ireland win. His O'Keeffe won seven

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

medals and 12 Munster Championship medals. Other honours he won include seven

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

medals and eight

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship () 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 and Ulster GAA teams are co ...

medals between

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

and the Combined Universities. He is among the leading recipients of

GAA All Stars Awards The Gaelic Athletic Association-Gaelic Players' Association All Stars Awards (often known simply as the All Stars) are awarded annually to the best player in each of the 15 playing positions in Gaelic football and hurling. Additionally, one play ...

, with five awards from 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978, and 1979. He was also named the

Texaco Footballer of the Year The Texaco Footballer of the Year was a Gaelic football award, created in 1958, that honoured the achievements of a footballer of outstanding excellence. The award was part of the Texaco Sportstars Awards, in which Irish sportspeople from all fi ...

in 1975. O'Keeffe retired reluctantly on medical advice after the 1984 Munster Final with a serious hip complaint, having played relatively few games in the previous 18 months. He had hip replacement surgery some 20 years later. His last game for Kerry was in the full back position against Tipperary in the 1984 Munster semi-final. O'Keeffe has always maintained that probably his most dangerous opponent was Dublin's Jimmy Keaveney, with whom he enjoyed several battles. His performance against Offaly's Matt Connor in the 1982 All-Ireland final was all the more remarkable considering he had little or no training preparation owing to injury. O'Keeffe is consistently named as full back in various GAA players/managers best ever team selections, particularly in the years leading up to the GAA's Centenary and beyond. With the

UCD GAA UCD GAA or University College Dublin Gaelic Athletic Association club is a Dublin based Gaelic games club in University College Dublin. The UCD hurling club was founded in 1900 and boasted the mottos "Ad Astra" and "Cothrom Féinne". The first ...

team, he won a Dublin County Championship in 1974, and the Leinster Club Championships and All-Ireland Club Championships in 1973-74 and 1974-75. He also won

medals in 1973, 1974, and 1975. In May 2020, the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' named O'Keeffe at number ten in its "Top 20 footballers in Ireland over the past 50 years".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okeeffe, John 1951 births Living people All Stars Awards winners (football) Alumni of University College Dublin Austin Stacks Gaelic footballers Austin Stacks hurlers Dual players Gaelic football backs Ireland international rules football team coaches Irish schoolteachers Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers Munster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Texaco Footballers of the Year UCD Gaelic footballers Winners of six All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football) 20th-century Irish sportsmen