History

In recent years Mastergeeha F.C. has become one of Kerry’s major soccer clubs. It came about as interest in the game was influenced by near neighbours Anablaha Celtic who were competing in the K.D.L. back in the late seventies. Mastergeeha is a townland in Kilcummin. At that time there were only approximately fifteen houses. The lads in Mastergeeha decided to enter a team in a local seven aside competition. The team consisted of five sets of brothers, the O’Neill’s, Devane's, Kerins, O’Leary's and McSweeney's. They were managed by Joe Doyle and Donie O’Connor.
The first league match was played against Cullen and they were delighted with the result 2-2 but the highlight of the season was two local derbies against Anablaha Celtic which both ended in draws. The Panel consisted of: Joe O’Leary, Pat and John O’Leary, Robert and John Kerins, Jimmy and Mike Devane, Michael and Billy O’Neill, Pat and Denny McSweeney, Eugene McSweeney and Eoin Murphy.
Like Wimbledon in England the club went from being a non-league team to a premier side in a very short space of time.
The role of honour was a follows:
1983/84….KDL Div. 4 Winners
1987/88….KDL Div. 3 Winners
1990/91….KDL Div. 2 Winners
This meant that when the Premier Division was being put together at the start of the 1991/92 season, for the first name to go on the list was Mastergeeha. It had taken the club less than 13 years to reach top flight. Sadly, Mastergeeha has failed to remain in top flight but in the 2004/05 season the club regained top flight football when Mastergeeha won a playoff to put the club back into Premier Division. In the 2005/2006 season the club fought tough competition and went down to the First Division but hopefully with a strong senior panel it will not be too long before the club gets back into the Premier Division.
Over the years the club has contested two K.D.L Reserve Cup Finals, but unfortunately lost both, one to Tralee and to K.K Tiblitsi. In 1991 when the team was top of Division 2, John Kerins was called into the Kerry panel making him the only player from outside the First Division in the squad. However, the success of the club was no built on individual stars but rather on the fact that the team was so closely knit that they were always difficult to beat. Long may it continue.
The club has used many fields over the years and indeed they started off playing in the K.D.L. without any field at all. The first fields they used were given to them by Pat O’Connor (Milleen) and Dermot Brosnan (Inch) and they help get the club firmly established. The club had a field belonging to the Park Lodge in Killarney which saw many successful outings for the club. Jimmy O’Callaghan’s on Tralee Road was the home base up to the time when the club started to rent a pitch from neighbouring Killarney Celtic.
In 1992 the idea came about of buying land for the club when Noel Brosnan initiated a Lotto Draw. Thanks to dedicated Lotto sellers the club was able to buy seven acres in Kilbrean in July 1997. These seven acres have been developed and the club has a senior pitch, a schoolboy pitch and a floodlit training pitch.
One of the first people to make use of the new dressing room facilities at Kilbrean Park was Irish soccer legend Packie Bonner when Mastergeeha F.C. hosted the F.A.I. Introductory Goalkeeping Course. Packie conducted the course with the utmost professionalism. He signed many autographs and posed for many photographs. The weather was dry and sunny. The ladies committee put on such a tremendous display that it prompted Packie to say that he had never before experienced a reception like it anywhere in his far flung travels. The F.A.I. Regional Development Officer Brian McCarthy also thanked the club and said the attention to detail was certainly a nice end to what had been a day to remember for the club.