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Tom “Crosstown”
Looney 1871-1923
Tom Looney was born in
Crosstown in the parish of Glenflesk in 1871. During a
turbulent period in this country, five of the younger
Looneys emigrated to Australia while their widowed
mother, brother Michael and Tom moved to Killarney
town. Living in a lane off College Street, Tom soon
became a staunch member and a regular player of the Dr.
Crokes. He captained the club team in 1896, was on the
losing County Final team of 1900, and the winning of the
Club’s first County Championship in 1901. A regular on
the Kerry team in those years, he was named as a
substitute on the Kingdom’s first All-Ireland winning
side of 1903 which was played in October 1905.
A great club worker, he took
on the task of fencing in the Cricket Field near the
Flesk Bridge – then the club’s first field and turned it
into one of the best venues in the province.
They say the G.A.A is all
about family and place – Tom’s wife Jane was a sister to
the great Kerry and Croke goalie, Paddy Dillon,
sister-in-law to the great Dick Fitzgerald and all
Brewery Lane homes displayed All-Ireland and County
Championship medals - Dillons, Looneys, Lynchs and
Cliffords.
The bedrock of the G.A.A in Kerry is identified in urban
and rural communities by people who love their Gaelic
sport, club and county & Tom Looney was surely one of
these Men.
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