TOM NAUGHTON: He was one of the Club’s and the County’s great supporters and his recollection of past games was unbelievable. We speak of Tom Naughton (St. Brendan’s Park) who died 25 years ago on this day (12th May 1995). Tom could name teams going back decades with uncanny accuracy. And it wasn’t just Stacks or Kerry teams. One time, for example, on a train home from Dublin he mesmerised his fellow passengers who had gathered around him by accurately naming the Cavan team that defeated Kerry in the Polo Grounds Final of 1947.
His family of course were and are steeped in the Rock. His late son John Joe won a MF Co. Championship medal when the Club won its first Minor title in 1969. Later his daughter Anne (wife of Tim Slattery) was part of those great Ladies teams of the late 1970’s and early eighties – winning three Senior Co. Championship titles in 1977, 1979 and 1982. Jeremiah also played with the Club down the years. And the Naughton family involvement with the Club continues to this very day with Tommy (Tom’s grandson) being part of the SF management team for the past number of seasons as goal-keeping coach and team statistician. Tommy, of course, was also the Club’s senior goalkeeper back in the late 1990’s and early noughties (see page 203 of Centenary Book).