Seán Óg Sheehy

Seán Óg Sheehy (24 May 1939 – 31 May 2024) was an Irish Gaelic footballer. At club level he played with John Mitchels and at inter-county level with the Kerry senior football team. Sheehy captained Kerry to the All-Ireland SFC title in 1962.

Born and raised in Tralee, County Kerry, his father, John Joe Sheehy, was a four-time All-Ireland SFC-winner and two-time winning captain with Kerry.^[1][2] Sheehy first played Gaelic football as a schoolboy with Tralee CBS and was a Munster Colleges runner-up in 1956. He later played with University College Cork and University College Dublin and was a Sigerson Cup runner-up in 1960.

Sheehy began his club career at juvenile and underage levels with the John Mitchels club in Tralee. He eventually progressed to adult level and won his first Kerry SFC after a 3-09 to 1-10 defeat of Feale Rangers in the 1959 final replay. It was the first of a record-setting five successive Kerry SFC titles for John Mitchels, with Sheehy lining out in all five triumphs.^[3]

During those early successes, he also lined out with University College Cork and won a Cork SFC medal after a defeat of Avondhu in the 1960 final.^[4] Sheehy claimed a sixth Kerry SFC title in 1966 after beating East Kerry by 2-10 to 1-10 in that year's final.^[5]

Sheehy began his inter-county career with Kerry as a member of the minor hurling team in 1957. He made his debut with the Kerry senior football team in 0-12 to 0-06 defeat of Kildare in the National Football League in November 1961. A brief spell with the junior team was followed by being made captain of the senior team in 1962.^[6] Sheehy won his first Munster SFC medal after a defeat of Cork that year before captaining Kerry to the All-Ireland SFC title after a 1-12 to 1-06 defeat of Roscommon in the final. His brothers, Niall and Paudie, were also on the team.^[7]

Sheehy captained Kerry to a one-point defeat of Down in the 1963 National League home final. He claimed a second successive Munster SFC medal later that season, however, he subsequently lost his place on the starting fifteen.^[8] Sheehy came on a substitute in the 1963 All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Galway in what was his last game for the senior team. He returned to the junior team and ended his inter-county career by claiming a Munster JFC medal in 1965.^[9]

Sheehy died in Tralee on 31 May 2024, at the age of 85.^[10]

John Mitchels

• Kerry Senior Football Championship: 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966

University College Cork

• Cork Senior Football Championship: 1960

Kerry

• All-Ireland Senior Football Championship: 1962 (c)
• Munster Senior Football Championship: 1962 (c), 1963
• Munster Junior Football Championship: 1965