Bailey a driving force for the club

Paudie Bailey is one of the club most prominent players who is also playing a big role in the running of the club also.

As team captain he leads by example is one of the clubs best players and makes a habit of scoring goals even though he mostly plays a midfield role in games. He began his playing career with St Brendan's Park at underage level and went on to play with the senior squad.

He has a great passion for the game and has gone on to star with Windmill. He starting playing with the club when he was 13 and he has great memories of the late John Murphy who drove young players to training and for trials for the Kerry team.

"His tragic death in 2001 was a hammer blow for the village and the club as he was the main man behind the club. It took us a long time to get over this tragedy but it made everyone determined that they would keep the great work he done going alive and ensure the future of the club was safe.

"After getting our underage structure going the club began to grow and prosper but down the road there was a bit of a lull and we were forced to take a break for a few years. After taking a sabbatical the club were determined to get a senior club off the ground.

"This came to fruition in 2015 when we entered a team in the KDL and the team manager was Tim Daly. He has been very active with the club since it was formed and is always around to lend a helping hand when called upon."

Bailey has ambitious plans for the future of the club and like everyone else involved he wants to see the club winning silverware.

"We have gone close to winning silverware on a couple of occasions most notably in 2016 when we reached the Division 2 B League Final. We were 10 points clear at the top of the table, but after a great season we wound up with nothing losing the decider on penalties after a replay.

"We will have to keep building up the strength of our squad if we are to lift silverware and also get our underage structure in a healthy state. There is a healthy social side to the club and we like to meet up after games enjoy a few drinks and reflect on the results of games.

"While we will always struggle to match the bigger clubs we have great self belief and we want to keep moving up the divisions of the KDL. We have a strong backroom team involved in the club and John Kerins is another man who is very heavily involved in the running of the club and he puts in a lot of time and effort to ensure the clubs runs smoothly.

"Everyone involved in the club pulls their weight and an awful lot of work goes on behind the scenes which a lot of people are not aware of. Every club wants to play at the highest level possible and while getting to Premier A may beyond our capabilities at present it will always be our goal.

"There is a great spirit within the club and we will be hoping to be vying for the Division 1B league title when the new season gets up and running again. Everyone is frustrated with the pandemic shutdown, but hopes of restrictions being lifted is coming closer at last.

"Two seasons ago with the squad expanding we decided to enter a B team into the KDL. This was giving everyone a chance to play the game and we succeeded in getting some promising young players who will continue to improve as they get more games experience. They performed very well and were very unlucky not to make it to the league final.

"We will have two teams for the new season and that will give us a big pool of players to choose from and competition for places on both teams will be intense. Understandably everyone is very frustrated with the Covid - 19 restrictions but they are there for a really good reason and must be observed for the safety of everyone.

"With the football famine a hard pill to swallow players will want to release their frustrations and get out kicking a football again. Some of us have been doing our own bit of exercise complying with the restrictions that are in place.

"It has been a long time since anyone kicked a ball so all the players are hoping the football shutdown will end before too long. No one knows what is going to happen regarding the new soccer season.

"It looks as if the 2020/21 season will have to be discarded so everyone are eagerly awaiting news on what the future holds regarding the resumption of KDL fixtures. Some months back we launched a fun - raiser Split the Bucket Competition and it was going very well but was effected by the lockdown. However, the club are planning to get the fund- raiser up and running again when soccer gets going again."

Kerryman