page_title: Kerry GAA
section_title: County team
hierarchical_section_title: Kerry GAA / Men's football / County team
caption_attribution_description: Victorious team of 2007 gaellic football cup during the parade at Tralee
context_page_description: The Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Kerry. The county board is also responsible for the Kerry county teams.
  The Kerry branch of the Gaelic Athletic Association was founded in the year 1888. Football is the dominant sport in the county, with both the men's and women's teams among the strongest in the country at senior level. In hurling, the men's side compete in the sport's premier inter-county competition, the Liam MacCarthy Cup, while the camogie team does not compete at senior level.
  Kerry are the most successful team in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, topping the list of counties for All-Irelands won. They have won the competition on 37 occasions, including two four-in-a-rows and two three-in-a-rows. They have also lost more finals than any other county, having lost on 23 occasions. The Ó Sé family are particularly renowned: beginning with Páidí, they had at least one member play a part in all 22 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals that Kerry participated in between 1975 and 2014.
context_section_description: Kerry are the most successful team in football history, having won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship on 37 occasions and the National Football League 20 times. The team is also the holders of a number of distinctive records in football championship history.  They have contested 59 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals, the next highest participator being Dublin with 36 appearances. Kerry's record in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship involves having played 30 of the 31 other counties, with only Kilkenny being the exception.
  The traditional Irish game of caid, from which modern football developed, was especially popular in Kerry. The GAA was formed in 1884 and codified the modern rules of the game, which were soon adopted in Kerry clubs such as Laune Rangers. Despite this, the county team did not win an All-Ireland Football Championship in the nineteenth century. The 1903 title was the first won by Kerry, with them beating London in the final at a time when London were given a bye to that stage of the championship; Kerry's overall exceptional success in the game began in this period.
  The Kerry team of the 1970s and 1980s were considered to be the greatest in the history of football and its manager (Mick O'Dwyer) one of the greatest of all time. In recent years Dublin have become the greatest team of all time winning 6 All-Irelands in a single decade. Their manager, Jim Gavin, is now acknowledged as the greatest manager of all time. Of the 20 All-Ireland finals held during those two decades, Kerry participated in 12, with victory coming on 9 occasions. During this time most other finals were won by Dublin, and there was a major rivalry between the two counties especially during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1982, Kerry came within one minute of winning an unprecedented fifth All-Ireland title in a row, only for a late goal by Offaly's Séamus Darby (controversial as many claimed Darby pushed the Kerry defender, Tommy Doyle, in the back) gave the title to Offaly. This goal was voted third in a poll to find the Top 20 GAA Moments.
  Towards the end of the 1980s, Kerry went into decline and did not appear in an All-Ireland final for 11 years, between 1986 and 1997. The 1997 victory, however, would mark the beginning of a revival for Kerry which spanned roughly the first decade of the 21st century. Of the 15 All-Ireland finals between 1997 and 2011, Kerry contested ten and won six, including five titles in the 2000s. In 2006 and 2007, Kerry won consecutive All-Ireland titles (the first to do so since Cork in 1989 and 1990), while in 2009, they became only the third team to reach six consecutive All-Ireland finals (a feat last achieved by Dublin between 1974 and 1979), winning their 36th title by beating Cork in that final. Kerry quietly exited the 2010 and 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championships at the quarter-final stage, losing to Down and Donegal respectively, while Dublin defeated them in dramatic fashion on the last kick in the 2011 final. Dublin were also responsible for their exit at the semi-final stage in 2013 in a closely contested classic match. Kerry won their 37th, and most recent, All-Ireland title in 2014 against Donegal, winning by a margin of 2–09 to 0–12. This win was notable due to Kerry's fairly young squad and a belief that Kerry were becoming unable to produce the talent they once had, after pundit Joe Brolly had suggested as such. In the aftermath of the game, Kerry player Kieran Donaghy gave a famous interview in which he directly referenced Brolly's claim that the 'production line' in Kerry had stopped, with Donaghy speaking directly to the camera and asking 'Well, Joe Brolly, what do you think of that?'. The next year, Kerry again reached the All-Ireland final, only this time to be comfortably beaten by Dublin, 0–12 to 0–9. The next two years saw Kerry bow out at the Semi-Final stage. In 2016, they were narrowly defeated by Dublin in a thrilling encounter, while in 2017 they were beaten by Mayo in a replay – their first championship defeat to Mayo in 21 years. Kerry crashe
caption: Kerry team celebrating with Sam Maguire Cup in Tralee in 2007
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