Profile: Eddie Keher

Eddie Keher was born in Inistioge, County Kilkenny in 1941. From an early age he showed exceptional talent at hurling, developing his skills with his friends in the square in his local village. Keher first came to note as an 11-year-old playing in an Under-14 hurling final. Even at that early stage a report of the match described his exceptional talent. At the age of 15 he was instrumental on the St. Kiernans College that defeated St. Flannans College of Ennis in the 1957 All-Ireland senior colleges final. In the game itself Keher scored three goals in the second-half to clinch victory, before setting up a fourth goal for his team-mate on the forward line. In 1959 Keher captained St. Kieran's to a second All-Ireland colleges success over Tipperary CBS. He further highlighted his remarkable hurling skills by playing four years at minor level for Kilkenny.

In 1959 Keher shot to national prominence with the senior hurlers. He played in the All-Ireland Minor Final in September, before graduating to the senior team in time to play in the senior final replay four weeks later. In spite of losing to Waterford Keher had a good game, coming on as a substitute after twenty minutes. It took until 1963 for Keher to appear in his second All-Ireland final. Once again the opposition were Waterford, however, on this occasion Kilkenny were the victors over an ageing Waterford side with Keher scoring a record 14 points. Four years later in 1967 Kilkenny beat an ageing Tipperary side with Keher claiming All-Ireland medal number two. Two years later they repeated the achievement, this time defeating Cork with Keher as captain.

The best was yet to come in the early 1970s, however, as Kilkenny became the most powerful and dominant force in hurling. In the five years from 1971 to 1975 Kilkenny never missed an All-Ireland Hurling Final. Keher's 1970s All-Ireland medals were won in 1972 against Cork, 1974 against Limerick and 1975 against Galway. During these years he set new scoring records. In the 1971 final alone his tally of 2 goals and 11 points became a scoring record that remained unsurpassed until Nicky English in 1989. In November 1977 Keher retired after 21 years of playing at all levels with Kilkenny. During his remarkable career he won every honour in the game, including six All-Ireland medals, three National Hurling Leagues in 1962, 1966 and 1976 and 9 Railway Cup medals which was a Leinster record at the time. His awards for excellence include 4 Cú Chulainn awards, 5 consecutive All Star Awards and the Texaco Hurler of the Year award in 1972.

Honours

07 August 1992

Eddie Keher

The Black and Ambers greatest ever

If Christy Ring was the greatest h hurler of all time and Mick Mackey was the next best, who completes the Holy Trinity?

In Kilkenny they have little doubt. While some old strangers might advocate the claims of Lory Meagher, the Prince of Hurlers from the 1930s, most others would probably agree that Eddie Keher should be up there in hurling’s pancheons alongside the genius from Cloyne and the swashbuckler from Castleconnell.

Some would place the Inistioge man even higher. Mon. Tommy Maher - hardly a totally unbiased observed, admittedly, given his long-standing association with Keher - is one of them, writes Enda McEvoy.

“At this stage, I must say Eddie Keher is the greatest I’ve seen,” the then Fr. Maher told Paddy Downey of the Irish Times the week before he trained Kilkenny to win the 1975 All-Ireland final.

“The second greatest was Christy Ring, Up until last year, perhaps, I would have reserved that order. But I have no doubt at all now, because Keher has done so much for the game, has played it so brilliantly, scores so brilliantly and at all times then a thorough gentleman - a credit to the game.”

Those comments were made a matter of days before the Rower Inistioge clubman won his sixth, and last, All-Ireland senior medal. He retired two years later in 1977, having won the Black and Amber at the highest level since being brought onto the county senior panel for the 1959 All-Ireland replay against Waterford.

1959 was indeed the year Eddie Keher began to make his name on the national scene. He started by captaining St. Kierans to win the Colleges title, seeing off Tipperary CBS in the decider. This was his second All-Ireland Colleges honour, the first having come two years earlier when the Kilkenny school - captained then by current County Secretary Ted Carroll - got the better of St. Flannans.

His stylish displays in the St. Kierans jersey made Keher an obvious candidate for the 1959 county minor team. And he didn’t disappoint, putting in a virtuoso display (he scored six points) against Tipperary on the first Sunday of September. Unfortunately for him, Tipperary won by a point - but the Kilkenny senior selectors, suitably impressed, called him up for the replay after their blue riband clash with Waterford had ended level.

The Munster man made no mistake the second time around, winning by 3-12 to 1-10. Kilkenny actually scored only two points in the second half ... but, interestingly both came from the stick of Eddie Keher, who went on as a substitute. He remains the only man to have appeared in senior and minor finals in the same year.

Not bad going for a man whose family was exactly steeped in the classic Kilkenny hurling tradition. Eddie’s father Stephen was a Roscommon man - and a footballer!

If the absence of TV coverage did no harm to the reputation of Ring and Mackey - and maybe even, paradoxically have helped their legendary feats resound all the louder down future generations - the presence of television cameras 2- or 30 years later certainly played a part in making Eddie Keher the national sports celebrity he became in the 1970s.