Former Offaly footballer and manager Kevin Kilmurray has died at the age of 72.
The Daingean native was a star of Offaly’s pioneering team of the early 1970s and was centre-forward as they won the county’s first senior All-Ireland in 1971 and again when they retained the title the following year with a record win over Kerry.
Kilmurray also won All Stars in 1972 and ‘73 and enjoyed great success with UCD, winning four Dublin titles and two All-Ireland club titles with the college under the tutelage of Eugene McGee and was instrumental in the appointment of the Longford man as Offaly manager in 1976.
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As McGee rebuilt the side, Kilmurray won his fifth Leinster title with Offaly in 1980 and only played his last game for the county in January 1982, months before the sensational All-Ireland final win over Kerry which denied Mick O’Dwyer’s side five-in-a-row.
A long-time Dublin resident, Kilmurray was involved with the St Brigid’s club in the capital and managed them at senior level before being appointed manager of Offaly following Ger Fahy’s resignation in 2004.
He completed two seasons at the helm, guiding Offaly to the 2006 Leinster final, which they lost to Dublin. It remains Offaly’s only appearance in a provincial decider in the last 25 years.
He had been suffering from illness since last year and is the fifth member of the 1971/72 starting teams to pass after Kieran Claffey, Larry Coughlan, Mick O’Rourke and Paddy Fenning.
Offaly Chairman Michael Duignan was a personal friend of Mr Kilmurray and described him as “an influential and creative centre half forward on the history-making Offaly football teams of 1971 and 1972.
"He was one of the greatest players of his generation and one of the best Offaly footballers of all time," he added.
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