The death has taken place of Kerry football legend Jerome O'Shea.

Aged 87, the St. Mary's, Caherciveen clubman won three All-Ireland SFC medals with the Kingdom in 1953, '55 and '59 during a career which spanned from 1951 to '61. He also played for the South Kerry district side.

A towering presence at corner back, O'Shea is remembered for 'saving' a point during Kerry's 0-12 to 1-6 1955 All-Ireland final victory over Dublin, which was played before a then record attendance of 87,102 at Croke Park. 

The Kingdom withstood a late onslaught from their great rivals in the closing stages, with JD Hickey writing in the Irish Independent the following day: "For pratically all of those last four minutes, Dublin waged a furious assault on the Kerry defence, but heroic defenders like Jerome O'Shea, Sean Murphy, John Cronin and 'Micksie' Palmer faced up to the bombardment with sure hands, lengthy clearances and a valour that utterly scorned personal safety.

"As the Dublin torrent rained, it seemed that Kerry might be submerged and be held to a draw, but tradition I am more convinced than ever, does count in such searching tests of a man's football ability and so Kerry pulled through." 

After his playing career, Jerome went on to present RTÉ’s first weekly Gaelic Games television show, ‘GAA World of Sport.’

His son Conor played rugby at full back for Ireland in the 1990s and was an RTÉ rugby pundit before taking up his current role as head coach of Italy.

Jerome, who served in a variety of roles as an economic advisor and representative of the Irish government at the EEC (EU) and the United Nations, is survived by wife Margaret and sons Diarmuid, Donal and Conor.

Funeral details for Jerome O'Shea:

Jerome will be reposing at his residence (Terenure, Dublin) on Friday from 5pm to 7pm with funeral mass on Saturday in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook at 1.10pm, followed by cremation at Mount Jerome Crematorium, Harold’s Cross.

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