General
- Tuesday July 29th, 2025 @ 9:13
Mick Kearin RIP
All at St Patrick's Athletic are saddened to hear of the passing of Mick Kearin, who passed away at the age of 82.
Mick began his career at St Pat's before spells at Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers. He was the first player from County Kildare to be capped for the Irish senior team, winning a cap for an away fixture against Austria, and was also capped for the Irish amateurs and the League of Ireland XI.
Mick grew up in a GAA heartland in Kildare with few opportunities to play soccer. A move to Dublin aged 15 to work in a shop on Collins' Avenue gave him a chance to take part in organised matches in the AUL Minor Division.
His uncle was friendly with Pat's legend Shay Gibbons, who organised a trial for Mick at Richmond Park. Mick was a raw talent, later telling The42 that he wasn't sure what offside was, that he had had little in the way of coaching, and that his exposure to even attending football matches had been patchy.
Nevertheless, Mick excelled in the Pat's youth team in the 1960/61 season and made the breakthrough to the senior side despite limited opportunities. Mick was primarily deployed as an inside-forward and occasionally played at right-wing. He was often the designated '12th man' but, with in-game substitutes still barred in Ireland, his opportunities in a strong Pat's side were limited. He made his first team debut in a heavy away defeat to Cork Celtic in January 1961.
The teenager was in the squad for the 1961 FAI Cup Final and was on stand-by to replace the injured Pascal Curtin, who just about made the starting lineup. He was also a reserve for Pat's debut in Europe against Jock Stein's Dunfermline, in which the programme noted the 18 year old as "an outstanding member of the youth team last season."
Although he continued to excel with the youths and reserve teams, Kearin's appearances in the 1961/62 season were similarly sparse. He scored his only competitive goal for Pat's against Waterford in a 3-1 away win at Kilcohan Park in the LOI Shield. That match was famously played in a '65-mile-an-hour gale' and rainstorm in which the players were supposedly fortified with spirits at half time and the match officials had to change into Waterford's away kit for the second half.
He scored a hat-trick for the reserves towards the end of his time at the club, leading George Lax, the Bohemians coach, to seek to sign the young forward.
Mick would line out for much of the 1962/63 season for junior side Tullamore, where he was top scorer, before officially moving to Bohemians for the 1963/64 season. He spent three years with Bohs before a transfer to Shamrock Rovers in 1966. He had seven successful years at Glenmalure Park, appearing in famous European ties and the Hoops' 1967 US tour as Boston Rovers, before finishing his career with a return to Bohs and a brief spell at Athlone Town.
Funeral notice
Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann. Once a Saint, always a Saint.
