County: Kerry Grounds: Cromane GAA grounds | Colours: Maroon and White Founded 1984 | |
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Réalt na Mara, Cromane, is a Gaelic Athletic Association club from the fishing village of Cromane, eight miles west of Killorglin in County Kerry, Ireland.
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Cromane play football in maroon and white colours. The club fields teams from under-8 to senior level. The club's name is derived from the village's church, also called Réalt na Mara (Star of the Sea in English). The local national school also carries the same name.
There was a club in Cromane in the mid-1950s. Indeed, in 1954, Pat O'Shea played for the Kerry minors as a Cromane player.
Since 1983 – when the current club was formed – players such as 2015 GAA Football All-Star Donnchadh Walsh, Sean O'Sullivan, Sean Walsh and Deavan O'Flaherty have worn the green and gold of Kerry.
Donnchadh Walsh played Kerry minor for two years (2001/02) as well as under-21 and is a current Kerry senior player. He has won three All-Ireland medals (2007, 2009, and 2014). In 2015 Donnchadh was named as left-half forward on the GAA Football All-Stars team.
Seán O'Sullivan played Kerry minor in 1998 and then had three years as an under-21, losing the 1999 All-Ireland Under-21 Football final against Westmeath. Seán quickly progressed to the Kerry senior football team and played between 2002 and 2009 during which time he won four All-Irelands himself (2004, 2006, 2007, and 2009).
Seán Walsh, a brother of Donnchadh's, was a member of the Kerry under-21 football panel in 2010, while Deavan O'Flaherty was a member of the Kerry minor football panel in 2012.
On March 2, 2003, both Donnchadh Walsh and Seán O'Sullivan lined out in the half-forward line for the Kerry senior football team in their National League win (2-11 to 0-14) over Dublin in Killarney.
In November 2015 Donnchadh Walsh was the only Kerry player to be selected to play Australia in a one-off International Rules game in Croke Park.
Achievements
Cromane's first major triumph on the football field came in 1994 when they claimed the Kerry Novice Championship, a feat they repeated in 1998 - beating Tuosist in the final.
Cromane's first Mid Kerry title came in 1999 when they claimed the O'Sullivan Cup title, three more titles quickly followed in 2002, 2003, and 2006.
In March 2008 Cromane won the Munster Junior B Football Championship beating Cork's St Oliver Plunkett's in the final in Knockaderry, Limerick. The final score was Cromane 1-8, Oliver Plunkett's 0-8. Cromane claimed the honour of representing Kerry having won the 2007 Kerry Novice Championship (Kerry's version of Junior B) by beating Ballydonoghue in Austin Stack Park, Tralee. The final score was Cromane 0-11, Ballydonoghue 2-3.
The Cromane senior football team currently competes in Division 5 of the Kerry County League and in the junior football championship.