Rogan Moore lines out for Kerry in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day

The Moore tradition of attending Croke Park on All-Ireland final day is a proud one. On Sunday last, a new chapter was added to the story when Rogan Moore lined out at half-time. Rogan wore the No. 9 jersey for Kerry against Donegal in the INTO Cumann na mBunscol Respect Exhibition Go Games organised by the GAA and Cumann na mBunscol and met with the GAA president Jarlath Burns. 

Rogan, the son of Keith and Melissa and grandson of Ned and Patricia, was nominated by Gaelscoil An Mhuilinn Ashe Road Mullingar, to represent Westmeath following his great displays for the Gaelscoil in the Cumann na mBunscol competitions. Rogan is the outstanding full back on the Mullingar Shamrocks Under-12 team, and is following in the family tradition of defending excellence. 

Members of the Moore family have been attending All-Ireland finals in Croke Park for a long time but Rogan has the boasting rights overall the extended Moore family – he is the only one to have played in the great stadium on All-Ireland final day. And, as can be seen in the attached pictures, he was in the centre of the action throughout the game. 

Rogan’s great-grandfather, Eamonn attended the 1956 final when Galway defeated Cork, so members of the Moore family have viewed a lot of finals over the last 70 years. The family arrived in Tudenham, Mullingar in April 1964 from their native Dunmore, Co. Galway. That was the year that Galway won the first of their three successive All-Ireland tiles and Eamon Moore brought Martin and Jim to Croke Park for the final. A Dunmore man, John Donnellan captained that team. This began an uninterrupted series of trips by Jim to Croke Park on All-Ireland final day, a series that only ended in 2022. In 2014, Jim attended his fiftieth successive final when he watched Kerry defeat Dublin. Jim was taken ill on the week of the 2022 football final and the condition that was to eventually prove fatal was discovered just a few weeks later.

Martin attended his fifty-sixth final on Sunday last - he missed four while living in New York, and the 2020 and 2021 deciders during the pandemic when crowds were either banned or severely restricted. Martin took time out last Sunday to pose for a picture with Jim’s son Joseph in the towering presence of Michael Cusack. The 1965 picture of the young Martin and Jim includes Eamon, their still hale and healthy neighbour Liam Kelly, and Frank Moore who lived in Birmingham and was a supporter of Aston Villa.

It is an impressive story but Rogan tops the lot. Well done, Rogan and we look forward to the day when you lead out Westmeathgaaofficial in a final of importance.