THE West Kerry senior football team that won the County Championship in 1984 celebrated that milestone event with families and friends at a function in the Hillgrove Hotel last Friday night.

"It's 25 years since we won the championship but what makes it even more important is that West Kerry was the first team to win that competition as a district team. Before that the last local team to win the County Championship was Dingle and that was in 1948. In fact, Dingle was the first team to win the championship ten years previously in 1938," West Kerry Board secretary John O'Connor told The Kerryman at the function.

One special guest at Friday night's function was Canon Jack McKenna who was right half-forward on the 1938 team, but didn't play in the final because he couldn't get time off from Maynooth.

"Dingle played six matches in that championship round and they won five of the six games by one point, including the final. I played in all the games except the final which I missed because I was studying for the priesthood at Maynooth and could not get permission to come home for the match," he recalled.

The bar area of the Hillgrove was packed with members of the 1984 team, many of whom had not met for years and they traded jokes about altered appearances.

The rest of the gathering was made up of family members, friends, supporters and GAA officials.

One side of the bar area was lined with exhibition stands displaying match reports from newspapers, photographs, posters and other memorabelia.