{"id":621613,"date":"2026-09-11T17:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T17:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621613\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T17:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T17:16:14","slug":"grandsons-of-offaly-and-kerry-1982-all-ireland-final-opponents-start-school-in-same-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621613\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandsons of Offaly and Kerry 1982 All Ireland final opponents start school in same class!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Caol\u00e1n Dunne, right, the grandson of Offaly GAA legend P\u00e1draig Dunne, is pictured on his first day at national school alongside Kerry hero Jack O\u2019Shea\u2019s grandson, Donnacha \u00d3 Nu\u00e1in. Photo courtest of Scoil U\u00ed Riada.<\/p>\n

\n Published:
\n Fri 11 Sep 2026, 4:48 PM\n <\/p>\n

\n Last updated:
\n Fri 11 Sep 2026, 6:03 PM\n <\/p>\n

by Kevin O’Neill<\/p>\n

In the famous 1982 All Ireland senior football final, Offaly GAA hero P\u00e1draig Dunne went into battle against Kerry legend Jack O’Shea in the middle of the field.<\/p>\n

But today, over four decades on, the former rivals find themselves on the same side as their two grandsons, Caol\u00e1n Dunne and Donnacha \u00d3 Nu\u00e1in, have started their educational journey in the very same class!<\/p>\n

Both young boys recently started junior infants at Scoil U\u00ed Riada in Kilcock, county Kildare.<\/p>\n

Their educational pairing has brought back memories of one of gaelic football’s most titanic battles, as their grandfathers graced Croke Park on the historic day when Offaly foiled Kerry’s bid for five All Ireland titles in a row.<\/p>\n

The Faithful County won the match in dramatic fashion when substitute S\u00e9amus Darby scored a late winning goal into the Hill 16 end, giving Offaly the narrowest of victories to atone for a seven-point loss to the Kingdom in the previous year’s final (in which Jack O’Shea scored a goal).<\/p>\n

Caol\u00e1n Dunne is P\u00e1draig Dunne’s grandson and his mother, Cli\u00f3dhna, is originally from Athlone. His father is Conor Dunne (P\u00e1draig’s son), and P\u00e1draig, of course, represented his local Gracefield club in Portarlington.<\/p>\n

Donnacha \u00d3 Nu\u00e1in (Jack O’Shea’s grandson) is a son of Eddie and Orla \u00d3 Nu\u00e1in.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Offaly Independent, Scoil U\u00ed Riada principal Elaine N\u00ed Loirgne\u00e1in said: “We are delighted to have both boys with us and hopefully they will enjoy plenty of sporting success of their own here in Scoil U\u00ed Riada.<\/p>\n

“The 1982 final is one of the most famous All Ireland finals of all-time, so to have the boys together in junior infants is a lovely coincidence.”<\/p>\n

Scoil U\u00ed Riada is an all-Irish co-educational primary school established in 1985 that aims to promote the Irish language and its associated culture within the school and in the general public at large.<\/p>\n

\n Published:
\n Fri 11 Sep 2026, 4:48 PM\n <\/p>\n

\n Last updated:
\n Fri 11 Sep 2026, 6:03 PM\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caol\u00e1n Dunne, right, the grandson of Offaly GAA legend P\u00e1draig Dunne, is pictured on his first day at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-621613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}