Limerick GAA club recalls its 60-hour football marathon

A 30th anniversary reunion of Kilcornan’s entry into the Guinness Book of Records took place last weekend

To this day the 14 Limerick men still hold the record for the ‘Endurance Gaelic Football Marathon’.

Their game lasted 60 hours and five minutes.

The unique under-taking was to collect money for Kilcornan GAA and Kilcornan Community Council and the fund-raising efforts returned £10,600.

“We had no special training done and there was definitely no proper diet like inter-county players have now,” recalled Johnny Dunne.

“All Ireland final referee Pat Lane, of Foynes, was the official adjudicator and we had a rota of refereeing and their job was to ensure the ball was kept moving at all times, because that was the main rule set down by the Guinness Book of Records,” he recalled of the game they watched last weekend on DVD.

“The whole idea came from Terence Madigan and along with John Nash they got it up and running. There was a carnival-like atmosphere around the field for the whole weekend with huge crowds. I can remember Fortycoats was the big attraction for children on the Sunday.”

On the field it was Morenane Mightys against Curraghchase Rovers. 

“I remember we both scored 675 points but Morename did score something like 30 goals more,” recalled Dunne.