Researching Mikey Sheehy

Born in Tralee, County Kerry, Sheehy's father, Jim Sheehy, had played with the Laune Rangers club in his youth. Sheehy first played competitive Gaelic football during his schooling at Tralee CBS. He first appeared for the Austin Stacks club at underage levels, before winning an All-Ireland medal with the senior team in 1977. Sheehy also won one Munster medal and five county club championship medals.

Sheehy made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he was picked on the Kerry minor team. He played two championship seasons with the minors, and was a Munster Minor Football Championship runner-up on both occasions. Sheehy subsequently joined the Kerry under-21 team, winning two All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship medals in 1973 and 1975. By this stage he had also joined the Kerry senior team, making his debut during the 1973-74 league. Over the course of the next fifteen seasons, Sheehy won eight All-Ireland medals, beginning in 1975, followed by a record-equalling four championships in-a-row from 1978 to 1981 and three championships in-a-row from 1984 to 1986. He also won eleven Munster medals, three National Football League medals and was named Footballer of the Year in 1979. He played his last game for Kerry in July 1987.

After being chosen on the Munster inter-provincial team for the first time in 1976, Sheehy was an automatic choice on the starting fifteen for the following seven years. During that time he won five Railway Cup medals.

In retirement from playing, Sheehy became involved in team management and coaching. In 2012 he was appointed as a selector with the Kerry senior team. Since then he has helped steer the team to one All-Ireland title and four successive Munster titles.

Sheehy was named in the right corner-forward position on the Football Team of the Century in 1984. Sheehy was one of only two players from the modern era to be named on that team, and was also included (also in the right corner-forward position) on the Football Team of the Millennium in 1999. Sheehy also won seven All-Stars, while his tally of eight All-Ireland medals, albeit one as a non-playing substitute, is also a record which he shares with fellow Kerry players Páidí Ó Sé, Pat Spillane and Denis "Ógie" Moran. His scoring tally of 29-205 was a record which stood for 25 years.