There were times during the year when Kerry supporters – some knowledgeable ones at that – were losing faith in the abilities of Padraig Reidy. But one man – the most important one – knew the spirited lad from Scartaglin was worth persevering with.
As everybody now acknowledges, Kerry manager Pat O’Shea’s judgement was absolutely correct in regard to maintaining his confidence in the 20-year-old defender to do the business when the real tests came in the white heat of Croke Park Sundays.
Padraig was under pressure to hold his place after the All-Ireland quarter-final against Monaghan which Kerry just about did enough to win, while at the same time learning valuable lessons that would be put to good use in succeeding games.
‘’After the Monaghan game, Pat O’Shea told me to keep my head down and to take no notice of what people were saying in the papers and elsewhere. Criticism is not easy to take, but he told me to keep plugging away and this encouragement from him was a great help to me,’’ Padraig recalled.
‘’People might have been cutting me down, but Pat stood by me and I was glad to be able to repay him. I went up and thanked him straight after we won the All-Ireland final. I’ll always owe him for the second chance he gave me against Dublin in the semi-final. It has been a marvellous year for me.’’
Padraig had a particularly good game on Mark Vaughan, of Dublin, and, of course, also blotted out Cork’s much vaunted attacker, James Masters, in the final.
When asked about keeping faith with young Reidy for the semi-final and final, Pat O’Shea replied: “What we had seen of him up to then gave us a ray of hope that this determined young lad had great potential adding fresh legs alongside Mark (O’Sé) and Tom O’ Sullivan. He did a great job on the big day beating Mark Vaughan and James Masters.”
Like most other Kerry youngsters, Padraig began kicking football as soon as he was able to walk. And, right from the start, the main influence on his career was his father, Dan, one of the pillars of under-age football in Scartaglin for many years.
‘’You could say dad is both my number one fan and my number one critic,’’ he remarked with a chuckle.
‘’He was been involved in my football career since I played at under-10 level for Scart and I definitely would not been playing for Kerry today only for him He was the man who took me to trials and training and hardly ever missed a training session with Kerry. He was involved with teams in Scart up to Under-21 level when Donie Murphy was with him.’’
As might be expected, the Reidy household is football-mad. Padraig’s mother, Eileen, hails from Dromtarriffe, Co Cork, but has by now been ‘’truly converted’’ to the green and gold, according to her All-Ireland medal-winning son. His sisters, Aileen and Michelle, play ladies’ football with Scartaglin.
Having completed his primary education in Scartaglin, Padraig attended St Patrick’s College, in Castleisland, and won a number of medals with various teams in the college. After finishing in St Patrick’s, he went to work as a sales representative with the drinks company, MCM, and his boss is former Donegal star Mairtín Beag McHugh.
He won two Munster minor championship medals with Kerry and was on the Kerry minor side beaten by Laois in the 2003 All-Ireland semi-final and on the team which fell to Tyrone in the 2004 final.
On a negative note, he has the dubious distinction of being on Kerry Under-21 sides which didn’t win a game in three years. ‘’The best we could manage was a draw against Cork,’’ he recalled.
They were beaten by Cork in Munster finals in 2005 and 2006 and by Clare in 2007.
Padraig made his senior National Football League debut against Mayo, in 2005. His introduction to championship fare was against Waterford at Dungarvan, on June 3rd last. There, he gave indications of promise as a top flight player and seriously set about making a corner back position his own.
It was certainly a fine achievement to collect an All-Ireland senior medal three months later – the first Scartaglin man to do so and a dream come true, surely.
The following Sunday evening, the Sliabh Luachra village came out in force to welcome him and the Sam Maguire. Memorable indeed were the celebrations which started with a parade led into the village by a piper.
To crown it all, Padraig also had a great year with his club which won the East Kerry Intermediate final and, as a result, the club qualified for the O'Donoghue Cup proper.
Scart caused a huge shock when defeating Glenflesk in O’Donoghue Cup quarter-final and almost caused another major shock when leading Dr Crokes by six points at half-time in the semi-final. Only a point separated the sides with just three minutes to go before Colm Cooper, typically enough, finished the game off.
Padraig has high hopes of better things to come for his club. ‘’We’ve a very young team of nice footballers and most of the lads are only 20 or 21. It’s not easy for a small rural club but, hopefully, we’ll stick together. I believe the potential is there to break new ground for football in Scartaglin.’’
Donal Hickey
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