Kieran "Jap" Finlay (died 2012) was a

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er who played for

Ballybay Pearse Brothers Ballybay Pearse Brothers Gaelic Football Club is a Gaelic football club based in Ballybay, County Monaghan, Ireland. History The club was founded as Ballybay GFC in 1906. The club is named after the brothers Patrick Pearse and Willie Pearse ...

and at senior level for the Monaghan county team and the father of Paul Finlay. He had two Ulster Championship medals in his back pocket (from 1979 and 1985), a

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

medal (from 1985) in his other pocket and four

Dr McKenna Cup The Dr McKenna Cup is an annual Gaelic football competition played between Counties of Ireland, counties and List of universities in Northern Ireland, universities in the province of Ulster GAA, Ulster. It is the secondary Gaelic football comp ...

medals in another pocket and gave a particularly outstanding account of himself in the 1979 Ulster Final, helping himself to a goal and nine, only to get ill and die. On the club front he helped himself to a Senior football championship medal in 1987, three senior football league medals, an All Ireland Colleges medal, Brennan Cup, junior championship, minor league and championship medals, and Monaghan's Senior Footballer of the Year for 1983, his performance in the 19979 Ulster final for Monaghan was only broken up by Armagh's

Oisín McConville Oisín McConville ( ga, Oisín Mac Conmhaoil; born 13 October 1975) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player. He has been manager of the Wicklow county team since 2022. McCoville played at senior level for the Armagh county team ...

when he came along and played for

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

, after playing as a forward and making a name for himself as one of Monaghan's finest in the forward line, then Finlay became involved in club administration and did a turn as Assistant Secretary of the County Board. Paul Finlay, who inherited the "Jap" name, said of his father's illness: "I do have a strong memory of being out with him in 1989. He was still training and we were at the pitch one day and he was running. And he took a pain in his chest. He was calling me to pull up. He was sent straight up to the Mater for a stress test but they never let him out. He needed open heart surgery. So that was a big thing for him because he was keeping fit and coming to the end of his playing days and he was just 36."GAA family a comfort for Jap the son of Jap
Keith Duggan 24 March 12

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finlay, Kieran 2012 deaths Ballybay Pearses Gaelic footballers Monaghan County Board administrators Monaghan inter-county Gaelic footballers