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Post by Chinatown on Apr 8, 2012 11:55:36 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2012 11:58:44 GMT
It is with deep sadness that we heard of the death of one of Kerry's greatest servants John Egan today. Patrick O'Sullivan, Chairman of Kerry County Committee, on behalf of everyone in Kerry GAA expressed his sorrow on the passing of one of Kerry's true heroes. He has extended his deepest sympathies to John's wife Mary, son John and daughter Maureen and to John's beloved Club Sneem. John served Kerry as a senior intercounty player from 1973 - 1984. He made 41 Championship appearances and 65 League appearance, in The Green and Gold, scoring 14-59 in Championship and 21-59 in League He played in 14 Munster Finals. Won 11. Lost 3. He played in 8 All-Ireland Finals. Won 6. Lost 2.
Go dtuga Dia suaimhneas síoraí dó. I only got to watch John playing on Kerrys Golden Years,what a player he was,a Kerry Legend RIP
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kapstad
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The Kerry team like the liffey stream will keep rolling on forever!
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Post by kapstad on Apr 8, 2012 12:19:32 GMT
I am very saddened to hear the news of John's untimely passing. John Egan was indeed a true Legend of Kerry football. The man was a sight to behold when he raced towards goal at full speed, and the control he had of the ball was frightening. If anyone out there has never seen John play, I urge you to get a copy of Kerry's golden years. Thank you for the memories John and my deepest sympathies to John's family.
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seamo
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Post by seamo on Apr 8, 2012 13:21:29 GMT
Very sad, a true legend. Will never be forgotten in Kerry.
RIP
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Post by Kingdomson on Apr 8, 2012 13:31:54 GMT
I am terribly sad to hear this news. My condolences to his family at this sad time. What a truly great player and one of the most outstanding forwards we have ever seen.
Rest In Peace.
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Post by sullyschoice on Apr 8, 2012 13:40:55 GMT
One of my all time favourite Kerry players. Had the honour of watching him many many times.
Sympathies to his family and friends.
Rest in Peace
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JOAN
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Post by JOAN on Apr 8, 2012 15:40:27 GMT
My all time fav player..My Idol.. Thank you for the Memories John..Sympathies to his Wife Family and the Sneem Football Club.. RIP John
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stuffoflegends
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A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
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Post by stuffoflegends on Apr 8, 2012 16:11:46 GMT
Rest In Peace John. A Legend Lost.
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Post by glengael on Apr 8, 2012 16:36:17 GMT
Farewell to a Prince of the forwards, another legend from our youth now sadly gone. Thank you so much for the memories.
Rest in Peace John & deepest sympathies to your wife , children , family & friends.
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Post by greengold35 on Apr 8, 2012 16:43:18 GMT
The spontaneous round of applause that took place prior to Mayo game today for both John & the late Dermot Hanafin was a fitting tribute to both- I saw John play minor in 1970 and was at many games thereafter both U-21 and senior when he thrilled us all as a menacing 15 with an eye for goal; ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.
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Post by brogin41 on Apr 8, 2012 17:28:37 GMT
RIP John, condolences to his family and club.
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Post by westisbest on Apr 8, 2012 18:09:09 GMT
RIP from the West. When i was very young i remember him standing out and one of the earlier memories was the hand he had in that goal scored by Jack O'Shea in the '81 final. The commentary by the late Michael O'Hehir for that goal seems only like yesterday. The minute's silence in Pearse Stadium today was impeccably observed as it should be.
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Post by MrRasherstoyou on Apr 8, 2012 18:52:54 GMT
Great, great player and a great man by all accounts, this is very sad news at such a young age. He was one of my two favourite Kerry players of that team/era. The quintessential, low-key, solid diamond Kerry player of all time.
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Post by southward on Apr 8, 2012 19:01:35 GMT
Nice post, Rashers. Very decent of you. Fair play.
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cool1
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Post by cool1 on Apr 8, 2012 19:36:08 GMT
One of my all time favourite players, lovely tribute to him in Austin Stacks earlier. I had the pleasure of meeting John and his wife Mary socially on one occasion, lovely people who never courted the headlines.
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dano
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Post by dano on Apr 8, 2012 19:59:09 GMT
In 1975 we all expected to be hammered by the mighty Dubs. An ambush lay in wait for them and Egan was the first to strike. He barrelled in at an angle for a memorable goal and he had a shirt on that you'd swear he born wearing. Perhaps he was! may he rest in peace, my sympathies to his family.
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falveyb2k
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"The way this man played today, if there was a flood he'd walk on water. Jack O Shea"
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Post by falveyb2k on Apr 8, 2012 20:10:29 GMT
"Liston back to Egan, and now they're really roaring...."
RIP gentleman John, Mick O Dwyer always says your goal in the 78 final turned the tide. Not only that but your display against Tipp in 75 and your goal in the final that year set the greatest team of all time on their way
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falveyb2k
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"The way this man played today, if there was a flood he'd walk on water. Jack O Shea"
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Post by falveyb2k on Apr 8, 2012 20:21:51 GMT
For some reason the video never displayed in the last post so here it is
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Post by Ard Mhacha on Apr 8, 2012 21:31:04 GMT
Sorry to hear this sad news. Can't really remember too much of his playing career, just really what I've seen in old footage. Looked like a fantastic player.
My condolences to his family.
RIP John.
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Post by sullyschoice on Apr 8, 2012 22:01:49 GMT
Very sad to hear of Dermot Hanifins passing also RIP
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Post by kerry07 on Apr 8, 2012 22:04:42 GMT
Very sad to hear this news this morning. A Kerry Legend has passed on to his eternal reward. My sympathies to his Wife and family. He will always enjoy a special place in our hearts. May he Rest in Peace
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Post by misteallaigh abú on Apr 8, 2012 22:04:53 GMT
Very sad news, as a young boy I watched this man weave his magic. When we played ball as kids there was always a row over who was going to be John Egan and who was going to be Mikey. He was brilliant, a great man to buy himself a bit of space and squeeze over a score. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
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Post by veteran on Apr 8, 2012 22:46:05 GMT
My eyes filled up today when it was announced at the match that John Egan had passed away. I have often been present when a minute's silence was called for a former Kerry player but this was the first time this happened to me. Why? Perhaps, because he was so young and therefore his exploits were so fresh in my mind. Perhaps, because he always came across as being such a humble man, almost being apologetic about his talent. In any case, he was truly an extraordinary corner forward. He must have been a hellish opponent with his combination of subtlety and fearsome strength.
Years ago, I gave a loan of my golden years video to a friend whose chief sporting interest is rugby, with only a mild interest in football. On returning it, I asked what he thought. One name, John Egan. He could not get over the contribution he made. May God look after John Egan.
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JOAN
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Post by JOAN on Apr 9, 2012 5:20:26 GMT
He was a true Hero..
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Post by damosmurf on Apr 9, 2012 9:05:25 GMT
As I was born in 1984, I never saw John play live. But growing up I idolised him. I can remember the countless hours I spent watching the Kerry Golden Years video. I was mesmerized by what John could do. He and Charlie Nelligan were my favourite players and I would constantly pause the video, run outside and try to mimic what I had just seen them do.
I now live very close to John and his family and over the last couple of years I would often see him out walking. He was my childhood hero, so everytime I saw him, I got butterflies in my stomach, he brought me back to all those days kicking a football around my garden. I regret it now, but I was never brave enough to approach him to speak to him.
Thanks for the memories John, my hero. RIP.
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Post by sullyschoice on Apr 9, 2012 10:01:06 GMT
Some nice pieces in todays Examiner by Mick O Dwyer amongst others.
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Post by Chinatown on Apr 9, 2012 10:10:14 GMT
Read more: www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/football/Monday, April 09, 2012 I FOUND myself taking a longer than normal walk across Waterville Beach yesterday after hearing that the great gentleman, John Egan, had died suddenly. My son John heard from Seanie Walsh in Tralee. Only that I knew the reliability of the source, I’d have had a second or third thought about it. John Egan could go around or through defenders, whichever way they liked. When he was in possession a great calm washed over me on the Kerry sideline. It was like putting the ball into Fort Knox. It never came out until Egan decided he was ready to dish it off with one of these punted passes, or clip over a point. Or, as most of the GAA world will remember him, until Egan had deposited the ball in the opposition’s net. He scored all sorts of goals, but they invariably had one common denominator – they were very important. He must have sensed the value of those goals but if you took his pulse in the chaos of All-Ireland battle, it never changed. There are several ways to distinguish quality from genius: the first was to walk into any club game and see if there is one beacon out there, outshining everyone. Egan did that with the Sneem so dear to him and with South Kerry. The second is that indefinable ability to make something happen when a team most needs it. The final of 1975, our first, Egan tiptoes his way through Dublin defenders and along the small square to find the net. Three years later, the slaughter of the Dubs, but would it ever have been thus if Egan hadn’t sensed Cullen coming at him for the smother, and popped it over him into the net? Television commentators knew what was coming next when Egan took it from Bomber or one over the top from Mikey. Even the way Micheal O Hehir used say in a rising octave, ‘and now it’s John Egan....Bang’. There has never, at least in my understanding of gaelic football, been a better inside forward than John Egan. I can’t say he was the best, but I can say there was no-one better. And he was and is the best No 15 to ever play the game. He was also one of the quietest. Speaking to some of the Kerry lads last night, they never heard him calling for a pass in a competitive game. He was forever making himself available but never demanding. After a while he never had to; colleagues went looking for him. In the dressing-room, the same thing. We savoured a few raucous Croke Park celebrations in September, but Egan’s response was always the same. A quick shower, before the trickle of Sneem lads would be ushered into the corner to him – the same spot every time – and off he’d go with them for the evening. I never knew how they got in but we never asked. We had too much respect for Egan, and his Sneem-ness. Egan was essentially a loner who stuck to his own. He lost a half-brother in a drowning accident and it was something he never recovered from. He probably went even more into himself after that. Jimmy Deenihan was reminiscing yesterday about the battles they had in training. Deenihan broke many a corner-forward with his robust style, but he never got inside Egan’s head. Once he had the ball tucked under his arm, Egan was virtually impossible to dispossess. Two key elements made him like that – he had natural balance you can’t coach, and had a pair of tree trunks for legs. He had those from his youngest days. I played a couple of times in my latter years against Egan for Waterville. One replay victory they had over us sticks in my mind as the afternoon potential became reality. He was a Kerry minor in 1970 and played in an All-Ireland final against a Derry team that ironically – given Egan’s son John is now at Sunderland – included Martin O’Neill. When I was appointed in ’74 as Kerry coach, his inclusion and involvement at the top end of the pitch gave us a chance, because getting him possession meant Kerry scoring. Drafting in and developing Bomber only increased that potency and that potential fostered by the likes of Ger Hussey and Paddy O’Leary behind in Sneem. I took him off in the 1984 All-Ireland final against Dublin and it was a decision I regretted forever. It stuck in my stomach for years. He was struggling on Dublin’s Mick Holden and the selectors felt a change was required. It gave a lie to fellas saying that I was a one-man band on the sideline but I often regretted not over-ruling them on this occasion and leaving him there. He never played for Kerry after that, but he was after some decade all the same. EVERY season, he was one of the crew who came back a stone heavier than when he left us in September. But he was a determined, defiant dog who’d sweat five nights a week to hold onto that jersey. Never dodged, never missed training even though by that stage he was stationed with the gardaà in Kildorrery, Co Cork. There was a night in Cork the Munster Council picked their Team of the Century in 2000. I was seated at the table behind him and for the night, he had people of all ages and gender coming up to him looking for a signing. He winked at me and said he was more famous now than he ever had been while playing for Kerry. It’s a debate that has shortened many a night since, in South Kerry and beyond. How was he not nominated on the GAA’s Team of the Millennium? Several theories have been advanced but I will share this one: by the time the media got into our dressing rooms after games, he was gone off with the Sneem lads. He was seldom interviewed and consequently got little publicity. It wasn’t that the journalists were stuck for other stories. Only when some bright spark thought of compiling a video of Kerry’s dozen years at the top did football followers beyond Kerry fully comprehend the extent of Egan’s majesty. In a sadly ironic way, ‘The Golden Years’ tape made John Egan. To his colleagues though, to the likes of Sheehy and Bomber, to Ogie bursting through and Spillane galloping at pace, Egan was the butter that made their jam sweet. The difference was he went from creator to finisher as it pleased him. For club and division he starred on the 40, but when it came to the green and gold, we needed his brand of magic closer to goal, to inflict pain in the nicest sort of way. A gentle hand off, a subtle solo and bang, another goal for Kerry. That was John Egan, a breed so rare that I can state without equivocation: nà bheidh a leithéad arÃs ann.
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lorr29
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Post by lorr29 on Apr 9, 2012 11:18:02 GMT
What a great phrase, he was the butter that made their jam sweet! I never saw John Egan play in the flesh but yesterday as I drove to the match with my dad and the news broke I understood even more the impact of the man listening to his memories of John playing.... I'd say Veteran you were not only the only man to shed a tear yesterday he touched many peoples soul. I always remember walking around Wilton shopping centre in Cork when I was young and my dad would say "that's John Egan there, a pure legend". May he rest in peace, condolences to his family and friends..
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Post by seaniebo on Apr 9, 2012 16:47:22 GMT
A true genius. Im of the Kerry golden years brigade myself and while I never saw his wonder on the field I often marveled at his genius on the old vcr. RIP to a true genius
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Post by shannonsider on Apr 9, 2012 20:01:43 GMT
Just to add to all the tributes, the man was as good a footballer as I've seen. The strength/physique of him was especially exceptional. The way he brushed aside strong defenders with consummate ease was amazing at times, and of course he was involved in or scored some of the most important scores that great team ever got. Maybe in death he will receive some of the accolades he should have had in life. Ar dheis de go raibh a anam.
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