Football festival to remember legends, Maria and Denis

Some of the legends of Meath football, both ladies and men, past and present, will don their boots for an event that has been organised to celebrate the lives of two wonderful footballers and people - Maria Kealy Johnson and her brother Denis Kealy.

The event - called a 'Festival of Football' - will be held on Saturday 4th May at Dunshauglin Royal Gaels' home ground - a place both Maria and Denis knew so well. A place where they spent so much of their youth.

The festival will kick-off in the morning at 11am and will include a series of juvenile games in a round-robin format involving youngsters at u-9 and u-11 levels. Clubs outside the Royal County have committed to sending teams including Rathnew, Cavan Gaels, and Naomh Mearnog in Portmarnock. They will be joined by teams from local clubs - Dunsany, Ratoath, Walterstown, Seneschaltown, St Ultan's, Blackhall Gaels, O'Mahonys and Oldcastle.

Later in the day, at 5pm there will be an adult match between the Meath All-star ladies team and a Dunshaughlin Royal Gaels selection. After that, at approximately 5.45pm, a similar contest will be staged involving the men. Meath football legend Graham Geraghty is the manager of the All-stars men's team while Eamonn Murray, who of course guided the Royals to two All-Ireland titles, will take charge of the ladies All-stars.

Entrance is free and there will be plenty of music and food available on the day. However, anybody who wants to make a donation are welcome to do so. While the organisers are anxious to point out the festival is not a charity event (all the emphasis is on the celebration of both Maria's and Denis's lives) any funds collected will go towards Meath Palliative Care and Aoibheann's Pink Tie.

Both Maria and Denis, of course, were top class footballers turning out for club and county. They achieved so much in their young lives. Maria, for instance, won an All-Ireland u-16 FC medal as a player and later coached the Royal County to an All-Ireland title at that level - a unique double. The trophy for the Ladies Leinster u-16 FC is named after Maria.

Denis also enjoyed tremendous success at club level especially and earned glowing plaudits for the richness of his talent and the commitment he gave to whatever cause he was involved with.

He was a central figure in the three Meath SFC titles won by his club in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He also played a crucial role in helping Dunshaughlin win the Leinster Club SFC crown in 2002, the last time a Meath side achieved such a feat.

Both were wonderful personalities who sadly passed away too soon. Maria departed this world in December 2022 at just 38 and Denis in June 2023 at 43. Now many of those who played with and against them want to celebrate their lives by taking part in this unique Festival of Football.

"A number of their friends within the club wanted to celebrate their lives and we felt that staging of a GAA event, a Festival of Football, was a worthy way of doing just that; a way of preserving their memories through Gaelic games because the GAA was so much part of what they did in Dunshaughlin," explained Niall Kelly, the former Meath and Dunshaughlin footballer who is involved in organising the festival.

"There has been a huge wave of support for the Festival and hopefully players from the past will dust off their boots and play in the short exhibition games," added Niall. "There will be nobody getting a call from Colm O'Rourke off the back of this! - it's a bit of fun aimed at celebrating the lives of two wonderful people. We got a huge wave of support by people from both inside and outside the county. It's a great tribute to Mara and Denis and this is a celebration of their lives."