John P Kean, also referred to as JP Kean, is an Irish former

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er and hurler who played both codes for

Claremorris Claremorris (; ) is a town in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, at the junction of the N17 and the N60 national routes. As of the 2017, it was the fastest growing town in the county, having seen a 31% increase in population between 2006 and ...

and football for the Mayo county team. Kean was team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

when Mayo won the 1971 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship. He first played for the Mayo senior team in 1972, and continued for ten years. He played on Mayo teams that won the 1974 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship (scoring 0–8 in the final),and the 1981

Connacht Senior Football Championship The Connacht Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Connacht Championship and shortened to Connacht SFC, is an annual Gaelic football competition for the senior county teams of Connacht GAA. All of the county teams of Connacht particip ...

. With Claremorris he won five county championship titles in one year (1971), including dual titles at both minor and senior level: the 1971 Mayo Minor Football Championship, the 1971 Mayo Minor Hurling Championship, the 1971

Mayo Senior Football Championship The Mayo Senior Football Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Connacht Gold Mayo Senior Football Championship'', is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top Mayo GAA clubs. As of 2024, Ballina Stephenites GAA ...

and the 1971

Mayo Senior Hurling Championship The Mayo Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested since 1923 by the top Mayo GAA clubs. In its current format, the Mayo Senior Championship begins in mid-summer. The 4 participating teams are into one groups and p ...

, with the Mayo Under-21 Football Championship as his fifth title of that year. Claremorris later added a

Connacht Senior Club Football Championship The Connacht Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament played between senior clubs in Connacht, with one qualifying from each of the five individual county championships. The winners of the Connacht football champ ...

title. As of 2024, the club had won neither senior county title since that year. With UCD, Kean won four

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

titles and played in two additional finals (a draw and lost replay). The first Sigerson title came in 1973, followed by 1974, 1975 and 1977. The lost final was in 1976, coinciding with Kean's tenure as captain. He played the full games from 1973 until 1976, but – injured – was unable to begin the 1977 final, restricted to a substitute appearance. Kean was also part of the UCD team that won both the 1973 and 1974

Dublin Senior Football Championship The Dublin Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the '' Go-Ahead'' Dublin Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Dublin GAA clubs. The winners of t ...

s, as well as both the

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

and 1975 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championships. He played for the Tuam Stars club because

Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...

, in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, was where he was working as a solicitor. He was manager when Mayo's minor footballers won five

Connacht Minor Football Championship The Connacht Minor Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Connacht Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1928 for the youngest competitors (under-18 until 2017, now under-17) in the province of C ...

s (1996–2002). The media has asked his "expert" view on team matters. In 2019, he publicly criticised the Mayo County Board for its sidelining of the 2011 Strategic Action Plan, and also criticised the team's former players (apart from

Kevin McStay Kevin McStay (born 9 May 1962) is an Irish Gaelic football manager, commentator, analyst and former player. Educated at St Jarlath's College in Tuam during the 1970s, McStay played for the school team. In retirement from playing, McStay became ...

) for, he believed, staying silent on that issue.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Claremorris Gaelic footballers Claremorris hurlers Dual players Gaelic football managers Irish solicitors Mayo inter-county Gaelic footballers Tuam Stars Gaelic footballers UCD Gaelic footballers {{Mayo-Gaelic-football-bio-stub