White’s Cross GAA are saddened at the passing of Finbarr Kiely. Finbarr served as a coach in White’s Cross for over a quarter of a century, as well as being our school coach in Scoil Naomh Michéal, Upper Glanmire National School for over a decade.
With his native club Delaneys he had a long and distinguished hurling career as one of the best goalkeepers in Cork and represented Seandún in the Cork senior hurling championship. In 1975 a mighty Seandún team beat St. Finbarrs in the Cork County Senior Championship at a time when the famed Barrs were All Ireland club champions. The divisional team and Finbarr lost to Blackrock in the county semi-final but the Delaneys goalie kept on playing the game he loved for many more years.
Finbarr worked as a railway shunter for several decades with C.I.E. and was a key player with their Inter Firm teams. Launching into his coaching career was an easy task for a man possessed with energy and drive and securing a rich vein of titles at junior, under 21, minor and underage grades, made Finbarr one of the most sought after and respected Cork GAA coaches.
His coaching career took him to three clubs: Delaneys, White’s Cross and Mayfield. He also coached in three local schools including Scoil Naomh Michéal, Upper Glanmire National School, where he was based for over a decade, and guided school teams there to three Sciath na Scol titles.
Finbarr accumulated a whopping 58 titles at adult level as player and coach with the three clubs he was attached with, and a further 18 as a juvenile club coach. An extraordinary statistic around Finbarr’s involvement with White’s Cross was the fact that of the 34 finals he guided White’s Cross Junior teams to, the Club only lost 6 (one was also a draw before White’s Cross won the replay). Under Finbarr’s guidance White’s Cross junior sides won 10 finals from 12 played in the 1990s and 17 out of the 22 contested in the 2000s. Here follows a list of the successes White’s Cross had under Finbarr:
4 Junior A football championship titles: 2006 – 2008 – 2009 – 2010
4 Junior A football league titles: 1994 – 2006 – 2009 – 2010
8 MacSwiney Cup Junior A football titles: 2004- 2012 (inclusive)
1 Junior B football championship title: 1991
1 Junior B football league title: 1992
1 Junior B football Seandun Cup title: 1991
1 Junior C football league: 1990
1 MacCurtain Cup Junior A hurling cup title: 1992
2 Junior B hurling championship title: 1991, 2016
1 Junior B hurling league title: 1991
2 Junior B hurling Craobh Rua Cup titles: 1991, 2016
1 Junior C hurling league: 1990