In this week's 'My Club' feature, Kerry footballer Peter Crowley tells us all about his club Laune Rangers.

By John Harrington

Laune Rangers GAA Club is based in Killorglin, Mid-Kerry, and named after the River Laune that runs through the town.

As well as being home to one of the most famous GAA clubs in Kerry, Killorglin has also earned national renown for hosting Puck Fair.

Laune Rangers was founded in 1888 in Coffey’s Pub in Killorglin, and enjoyed impressive success almost immediately.

They won four county titles in five years from 1889 to 1893, and in 1892 also became the first Kerry team to reach the All-Ireland Final where they were defeated by Dublin’s Young Irelands. In those days the All-Ireland Championship was contested by champion clubs rather than county selections.

Two more County titles were won in 1900 and 1911, but the club then had to wait another 78 years before adding to their total as first the War of Independence and Civil War and then emigration led to a decline in their fortunes.

They enjoyed another golden period at the end of the ‘80s and into the 1990s as they won four more county titles between 1989 and 1996.

1996 remains the high-water mark for the club because it was also the year they won their sole All-Ireland Senior Football Club Championship when they defeated Carlow’s Éire Óg in the Final.

The club has produced some distinguished Kerry county footballers such as Billy O’Shea, Mike and Liam Hassett, Mike Frank Russell, and Peter Crowley, but is currently at a relatively low ebb after their relegation to the intermediate grade in 2015.

Hope springs eternal, though. And the clubs recent victory in the Kerry U-16 Division One County title suggests there are better days ahead for Laune Rangers again.

For more information on Laune Rangers, visit their website www.launerangers.ie

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](www.launerangers.ie)

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Q: Can you tell me a bit about Killorglin?

A: It is a small town with about 4-5,000 people. I suppose we are famous for putting a goat up on a stand with Puck fair....that is our claim to fame.

Then one of the most famous people involved with the club would be JP O'Sullivan in the late 1800s or whenever it was he was playing. More recently you'd have Liam and Mike Hassett, John Sheehan, and Mike Frank Russell. They'd have been our key players in the last 10 or 15 years.

Q: The club is famous nationally, so there must be a great tradition in it?

A: Yeah, for a long while we'd have been the most successful club in Kerry. I'm not too sure have (Austin) Stacks passed us out there lately, there is a bit of debate over that. I know we've 12 Championships, I don't know if that is still the top. We obviously won the All Ireland in '96 which was a great day for the parish, which I know is a cliche. Whevener you go around the country and say 'Laune Rangers' everyone seems to recognise it either for the '96 All Ireland and Mike Frank a lot of the time.

Q: Can you remember your first involvement walking through the gates?

A: I remember going to the '96 final on the train and being in the Hogan. I would have been five going on six, they are only glimpses of memories. I started playing when I was eight. Dad tried to bring me out a couple of times, but I was running home. That happened a couple of times, but it all went from there.

Q: Is there plenty of football in the family?

A: Yeah, all my uncles would have played, Dad would have played. They would have played for Laune Rangers for years. Dad claims he was on the bench for a friendly game for Kerry once as a goalkeeper. He was supposed to start because Charlie Nelligan was late for the game, but he turned up two minutes before the game.

Q: He isn't bitter about it?!

**A: **No, he is not, but whether it is true or not is a completely different story. He always likes to remind me of it anyway.

Q: Did you have much success at underage level? What are the stand-out memories?

A: Yeah, we were pretty strong coming up at under 12, under 14, and under 16. We'd have won Division One titles all the way up, and County Championships then in Kerry. Unfortunately at minor fellas went away for College and girls and other things so we fell off. We were pretty good underage, but it didn't transfer to senior unfortunately. We have a good bunch of young fellas coming up again.

Q: How have you performed in the past few years?

A: We haven't been great in the past four or five years. Like any club we were hit a lot with emigration, a lot of my age group haven't played for a variety of reasons. Some fellas were going away looking for work, other guys looking for different life experiences for which you can't blame a man.

We have suffered so unfortunately we lost our senior status last year for the first time in close to 50 years. Unfortunately it is something you don't want to happen on your watch. So we are back in Intermediate now and we are looking to build again. Hopefully we will get the tradition back and get back to the Senior Championship in the near future.

Q: As a county player I suppose you put even more responsibility on your shoulders? Do you feel a bit more responsible when you are the county man?

**A: **Yeah and especially because I missed the second relegation match with an injury. That wasn't a great feeling. It is tough because you aren't really there. We train the same nights as the county so you want to do more. It is tough because you aren't around. It is difficult then trying to drive it when you aren't there the whole time. Hopefully we have turned the wheel, we've had a good few victories in the last couple of months. We are starting to turn it around.

Q: Is Mike Frank Russell still playing?

A: Mike Frank is still playing this year, he has a bit of a knock at the moment, but he still pulls out some moments of magic. I think he is 38, him and John Sheehan are still playing. He wouldn't be doing stretching or any of the modern techniques, he is just a freak of nature. He is still playing great ball.

Q: People have seen Mike Frank do brilliant things with Kerry, but I'd say there have been so many moments of brilliance that nobody has even heard about at club level?

**A: **Yeah, I remember when I first played in 2007,  when I was 16 I made my debut. At that stage we were very good, we were still competing for County Championships. We had fellas like Pa Sullivan playing, he would have been another fella that played for Kerry.

I remember watching him and Mike Frank having a goal shot competition, it was incredible. It was top corner every time. Pa had the sweetest left foot you'd ever see. The stuff they could do was just incredible. Mike can still, and you can't expect him to do it all the time at 38, but he does something and you'd think I couldn't do that if I tried 100 times over.

Q: What sort of a character is he?

**A: **He is quiet, he is very much the definition of actions more than words. For a man that has literally every medal that you can get in football, never mind inter-county football. He just sits down, does his work for as long as I've ever known him.

Q: You're a pharmacist by trade, is that right?

A: Yeah, I studied in UCC, but I went back to do a masters this year in DCU. Where I was living it was about two kicks and you'd have it over the bar in the Hill.

Q: Between inter-county football and club football it can't be easy combining it all?

A: Yeah, I don't spend as much time with the club during the inter-county season. You play your Championship matches, County League games and a couple of training sessions, but I suppose we are lucky enough that the club understands. They let us go with the county until we are finished, hopefully in September. When you go back, you're fully in.

Normally the club scene in Kerry runs pretty late. If we are finished by the middle of December we'd be doing pretty well with Divisional Championships and stuff like that. You have two seasons in the one seasons really.

Q: Did you find it different being in Dublin compared to Cork or Kerry?

**A: **The travel was obviously something different, but I didn't really mind it. I don't mind driving and I used to have Tadhg Morley coming down in the car so that was alright. We had a bit of banter and arguments in the car so that passed the time. It was funny, when you are at home in the shop you are always chatting about football. There is always somebody to chat about it, to talk about the club, but up here nobody recognises you or has an inkling who you are. Maybe other fellas, James (O'Donoghue) is up here, it might be a different story. Certainly nobody has a clue who I am which is great so you go about your own business.

Q: You kicked around off the wall in Croker?

A: Yeah, I was trying to do bits like in Clonliffe College.

Q: How has the Championship gone for Laune Rangers this year?

**A: **We are out already. There are so many Championships in Kerry. We play with Mid Kerry in the Senior Championship so that is separate. They try to rattle out the Intermediate, Junior, and Novice pretty quickly. It is straight knockout and the first round was in April. Unfortunately we lost that by a point to Marc O'Se's club, An Ghaeltacht. We have to wait for next year.

Q: Would that have been viewed as two big teams being drawn together?

A: Yeah, they'd be close enough to the top of Division Two, they are coming along with a lot of strong young fellas. They are coming and are a bit ahead of us at the moment. We lost a few fellas this year from last year so we were a bit weak at the start of the year. From 16-17 down we have a few lads coming through. By the time they come through I'll be about 36 when they are ready to go. I might be the old fella coming on for five minutes trying to win a County Championship.

Q: Not many counties have straight knockout…

**A: **In the Senior County Championship there is a bit of a backdoor system. In the others it is straight knockout. It is tough and it isn't great for the boys that are out of the Championship in April. The County League is still taken very seriously in Kerry, the Divisional Championships are a big thing in Kerry too. You have that to look forward to so the year never peters out. Kerry is good for giving fellas football even if it does go a bit late. It isn't ideal so we have to adjust to win a bit more.

Q: Are a good few of you involved with Mid Kerry?

A: Yeah, it is a bit of a sticky point for some fellas because we have such a proud tradition. It took a while to get used to. It was very strange for me putting on the Mid Kerry jersey. When I was growing up Laune Rangers were always competing for county finals and County Championships. You always dreamed about winning a County Championship in a blue and white jersey. It has been an adjustment period for us. Mid Kerry have won the first two rounds so we are through to the quarter-finals. Fellas come around to the idea. There is a good bunch of Mid Kerry fellas, who have welcomed us in.

Q: They would have been big rivals so there must have been an adjustment?

A: Huge. For a long time Laune Rangers were the only senior club in Mid Kerry. Milltown, our nearest rival, got promoted to senior. They've always been a strong side, we were always really battling. It is a different mindset going into different games.

Q: Will you give the Championship a rattle with Mid Kerry?

A: Yeah we will. The Championship in Kerry is very open this year and it has been for the last three years. Crokes are coming again, they can rattle out an inter county forward line when they want it. They are probably favourites.

The County Championship has been reorganised. A lot of teams were relegated from senior last year. That has made some of the Divisional sides stronger. St Michael's Foilmore went in with South Kerry to make them stronger. We are in with Mid Kerry. We are down to the quarter-final stage and you can honestly say, it isn't just a platitude, the eight teams that are in it can win it.

Q: Was it controversial relegating the teams?

A: Huge, very much so. We would have a club with huge tradition, a lot of fellas in our club would have been very angry with the decision to relegate that many clubs. The reality is if you get relegated you aren't really good enough so unfortunately we just have to live and learn to get better again. It isn't ideal, but we will be back.

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