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By Michelle Crean

Football fever has reached political levels this week – with two hilarious official Council headed letters littered with plenty of banter and craic - between two high profile Mayors.

Mayor of Kerry Niall Kelleher penned a letter in response to Paul McAuliffe, Lord Mayor of Dublin City Council, who is a Kerry descendent – after receiving an invitation to stay in the Mansion House this weekend.

[caption id="attachment_27871" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Paul McAuliffe, Lord Mayor of Dublin City Council[/caption]

However, it was the content of the Dublin letter, with plenty references to 5-in-a-row, which sparked a funny reaction.

‘Dear Niall,

There i5 5ure to be plenty of banter between your kingdom and my city ahead of the Men5 All Ireland Football Final.

But banter a5ide we are a city of welcome5 and It would be my plea5ure to have you and your wife 5tay a5 our gue5t5 in the Man5ion Hou5e that weekend.’

And after signing off adding in another cheeky reference ‘p.s. 5orry about all the typo5’.

Cllr Kelleher’s response was also just as witty: ‘We would be delighted to accept your invitation. If you don’t mind, we’d like a street facing room to look out at our favourite 37 – the bar across from your house on Dawson Street. I just hope they didn’t name it after the number of times Sam has come to Kerry or else they’ll have to change the name shortly. Some who won’t have to change their names are the fine Dublin players with good Kerry family titles. Like O’Sullivan, O’Carroll, some half of the brogans and indeed your own McAuliffe is straight from our ancient winning land.’

[caption id="attachment_27873" align="aligncenter" width="4480"] Niall Kelleher, Mayor of Kerry[/caption]

He continued ‘I look forward to returning your invite. You can get to Kerry easily, just follow Sam down the road when he’s travelling home. He knows the way fierce well, having been down here 37 times, in case I haven’t mentioned it.’ And signing off he added, ‘Niall Kelleher, Mayor of Kerry, The Kingdom of Ireland, 37 times over’.

“It was a good bit of banter and craic,” Niall told the Killarney Advertiser this week.
“I’m doing a number of events with him between Saturday and Sunday and we’ll do more of it. It’s all about the hype. People are delighted to be in an All-Ireland final. It’s a fantastic achievement for the squad and Peter Keane in his first year.”
And he added that everyone has confidence in their ability.

“They have what it takes to beat the Dublin side. The biggest thing now is to encourage the Kerry people to get behind the team.”

He said the letters were a great talking point over the weekend and he’s looking forward to Sunday’s result.
“I’m looking forward to welcoming back Sam number 38 to the Kingdom!”