Inter County Stars to shoot it out for the title of MBNA Kick Fada Champion

The MBNA Kick Fada competition, football’s equivalent
of the Puc Fada, determines the champion “long
and accurate kicker” of Gaelic football. Competitors
must kick the ball over the bar through specific
competition goal posts with distances measured
from the posts to where the ball was kicked. The
champion male and female kickers will receive
a €1,500 holiday voucher and an MBNA Kick
Fada All Ireland medal.

The MBNA Kick Fada gets underway at 1pm with admission
free for spectators. The current All Ireland &
World Record is an impressive 72 metres, kicked
over the bar from the ground by four-time MBNA
Kick Fada champion Mark Herbert from Co Kildare
who is set to defend his title once more this
year. In 2003, Herbert’s 59 metre effort was enough
to beat Gerry McGill from St Vincent’s, Dublin
by two metres.

Mary Sheridan from Seneschalstown, Co Meath took
the ladies title with a kick of 40 metres. Players
already confirmed to take part include:
Ciaran McManus Offaly
Shane Curran Roscommon
Padraig Clancy Laois
Fergal Byron Laois
Johnny Magee Dublin
Darren Magee Dublin
Glen Kelly The Underdogs Goalkeeper (Dublin)
Enda Murphy Kildare
Conor Flannery Wicklow
David Gallagher Meath
Peter Burke Meath
Niall Kelly Meath
Liam McBarron Fermanagh
Mattie Forde Wexford

Several other high profile players will be confirmed
early next week following this weekend’s club
action. Kerry Football Great enters MBNA Kick
Fada Hall of Fame Former Kerry Gaelic football
great Donie O’Sullivan inducted into the MBNA
Kick Fada Hall of Fame. The MBNA Kick Fada Hall
of Fame, an element of the Kick Fada competition,
honours the greatest distance and most accurate
kickers in Gaelic Football down through the years.
A stalwart defender with the great Kerry teams
of the 1960s, O’Sullivan’s had undoubtedly the
longest kick of his playing era and of all time.
Donie played in eight All Ireland finals, winning
four medals. In 1970 Donie lifted Sam Maguire
as captain of Kerry.

Donie was the first Kerry All Star, which he received
in 1971 and was awarded a second in 1972. While
playing in New York, his reputation as a prodigious
kicker lead to an approach by a US American Football
outfit offering him a professional contract. Donie
is a retired teacher and lives with his family
in Tralee.

In 2003 former Offaly, Leinster and New York Gaelic
footballer from the 1950s, Peter Nolan, became
the first member of the MBNA Kick Fada Hall of
Fame. Ciara Kennedy, Head of Business Development,
MBNA Ireland said “‘MBNA provides credit card
programmes for a number of GAA county boards and
we are delighted to continue our support for this
unique National GAA event. Now in its fifth year,
the MBNA Kick Fada attracts many of the country’s
leading Gaelic Footballers to compete for the
All Ireland title. With an impressive line up
already confirmed, we are looking forward to another
exciting final at Bray Emmets.”

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