Tom Spillane (born 1962) 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 who played for Templenoe and the Kerry county team in the 1980s.

Early life

Maura Spillane gave birth to Tom in

Templenoe Templenoe () is a civil parish in County Kerry, Ireland. It is situated four miles from Kenmare, on the N70 road to Sneem, which forms part of the Ring of Kerry. Templenoe is the location of the Ring of Kerry golf club. There is a Gaelic At ...

, near

Kenmare Kenmare () is a small town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of ''Ceann Mara'', meaning "head of the sea", referring to the head of Kenmare Bay. It is also a townland and civil parish. Location Ken ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

in 1962. He was — along with his brothers Pat and Mick — destined to become a key member of the successful Kerry

teams of the 1980s.

Playing career

Spillane won an

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it was replaced by an under ...

(MFC) medal in 1980 before first breaking into the county panel in 1981. He played with Kerry for the next eleven seasons, winning four

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

(SFC) medals, five Munster SFC medals, one Kerry SFC and three All Stars. Himself and Ger Lynch — assigned to mark Tommy Conroy and

Barney Rock Barney Rock (born 10 January 1961) is a former Gaelic footballer and manager at club and inter-county level (he managed Westmeath in the mid-1990s). Biography Born in Ballymun, but growing up in Glasnevin, Dublin, Rock attended St Kevins Colle ...

during the 1984 All-Ireland SFC final — began their efforts during the national anthem, which they sang with aplomb. Spillane, quoted in the book ''Princes of Pigskin'', said of this tactic later: "There was no belting but the plot was to sing the National Anthem as loud as we could into their ears to put the

fear of God Fear of God or theophobia may refer to fear itself, but more often to a sense of awe, and submission to, a deity. People subscribing to popular monotheistic religions for instance, might fear Hell and divine judgment, or submit to God's omnipot ...

into them. Neither of us were great singers but they must have thought we were wired to the moon". The headline in the printed edition read: "From twin tower to supersub target man, Walsh is key to Kingdom dream". Together with his brothers Mick and Pat, the Spillanes hold a record 19 All-Ireland SFC medals between them. However, he won a mere four All-Ireland medals besides Mick's seven and Pat's eight.

Personal life

Tom Spillane works as an auctioneer and runs his business from Killarney. He specialises in dealing with property in the Killarney and Kenmare areas. Spillane's brother Pat took over their mother's bar, renaming it Pat Spillane's Bar, and ran it before leasing it. Tom Spillane bought the pub from Pat Spillane in the late 2010s, with the intention of running it alongside his sons Killian and

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...

(also Kerry footballers).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spillane, Tom 1962 births Living people All Stars Awards winners (football) Gaelic football backs Irish auctioneers Irish publicans Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers Tom Templenoe Gaelic footballers Winners of four All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)