By John Harrington

50 years have been and gone since Sligo football legend, Mickey Kearins, won a football All-Star in the inaugural year of the scheme in 1971, but the passing of the years hasn’t slowed him down.

A livestock trader by profession, when the 78-year-old answers the phone he’s on his way to Clare from Cork and will make it all the way home to Sligo before the day is out.

“It's hard to believe 50 years have passed since ’71,” says Kearins. “I'm not playing anymore, but I'm still working!”

He mightn’t be playing anymore but, boy, could he back in the day. A classy two-footed forward, over the course of 17 seasons of inter-county football he scored a remarkable tally of 36 goals and 1,158 points in 215 games for Sligo.

So prolific a forward was Kearins, that he remained the highest scorer in the history of National League Football until he was finally eclipsed by Clare’s David Tubridy this year.

His excellence received national recognition in ’71 when he was named on the first ever Gaelic Football All-Star team, and his memories of that moment remain fond.

“I'm nearly certain it was (GAA journalist) Mick Dunne who rang me up to tell me that I'd won the award, and of course I was delighted," recalls Kearins.

“For someone like myself who hadn't won anything with Sligo up until that point, it was obviously a huge honour to be recognised with an All-Star, especially as it was the first year of the scheme.

“To be honest, and I don't mean to sound big-headed, but when I first heard about the scheme I was quietly confident that I'd get an award because I'd played well that year.

“We were unlucky to lose the Connacht Final to Galway that year after a replay. I'd scored 13 points in the drawn game and you'd think you'd be on the winning team whenever you'd do that, but unfortunately not.

“I scored 1-7 in the replay but we lost it by a single point.”

The inaugural All-Stars awards in 1971 heralded the dawn of a new age for the GAA. A black-tie event, corporate sponsorship, a gala dinner. In a way, the All-Stars scheme almost gave the GAA a more elevated social standing.

“It felt like a prestigious event,” says Kearins. “We were all dressed in black-tie and the awards were given to us by Jack Lynch, who was the Taoiseach at the time.

“There was a banquet and dancing afterwards for anyone who was so inclined.”

The cherry on top for the players was that All-Stars winners were brought on an All-Stars Tour to the United States where they’d play the reigning All-Ireland champions.

By then, Kearins’ footballing excellence had already ensured he was well-travelled having twice made the cut for Cardinal Cushing trips which saw 12 players in each codes brought to the USA to play exhibition matches.

So he opted not to go on the first All-Stars Tour, instead nominating his Sligo team-mate Jim Colleary who he had the utmost respect for.

“I couldn't go myself at the time so I rang the Director General of the GAA at the time, Seán Ó Siocháin, and told him I wasn't interested in going and he asked me would I like to name a replacement and I said if you'd allow me to do that I'd be delighted.

“He said you ring me back tomorrow if you want and tell me and I rang him back and said I had approached Jim Colleary and he was delighted to go in my place. They went to San Francisco as far as I know."

Having lost the 1971 Connacht Final to Galway after a replay, Sligo were then knocked out of the ’72 Connacht Championship after another replay defeat, this time against Mayo.

By then Kearins reckoned he was going to end his inter-county career without a medal to show for his considerable efforts, but he finally reached the promised land in 1975 when Sligo shocked Mayo to win their first ever provincial title.

“I thought after 1971 and 1972 that our chance was gone,” says Kearins. “We'd lost to Galway after a replay in the '71 Connacht Final and then Mayo after a replay the following year and were unfortunate not to win both games.

“So when we finally did with the Connacht title in '75 it was a tremendous buzz. I'd been playing with Sligo for 14 years at that stage so that made it all the more sweet.

“I would say though that we weren't as good a team in '75 as we had been in '72 or '71. It was more or less the same group of players, but a lot of us were getting that bit older by 1975.

“We were well-beaten by Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final. We probably celebrated the Connacht Final win a bit too much, but history then of course proved that Kerry team were one of the greatest to ever play the game even if we knew little about them in '75.”

• The 2021 PwC All-Stars Awards night will be held on Friday, December 10.