One hundred years calls for a celebration, and on the 28th of June 2026, Keating’s Bar at Derrynane Harbour delivered exactly that. The marquees went up, every room in the building was opened, and the people who love this place most showed up to mark a century together.
100 Year Celebration of Keatings Bar Derrynane - Video by Outcome Digital
We opened every room in the building for the night, something that felt entirely right for an occasion this size. Marquees went up outside to welcome the guests, and from the moment the doors opened it was clear that this evening was going to be something we would talk about for a long time to come.
In the front room, a slideshow of family photographs played throughout the day, images that many of us had never seen gathered together in one place. People paused in front of the screen, pointed at faces, shared stories. Family members who had travelled from across the world found themselves looking at photographs of people they had known, heard stories about, or were meeting for the first time through an image taken decades before they were born. It was one of those unexpected moments that a centenary produces, the past and the present in the same room at the same time.
St Crochan’s Gospel Choir and Vinny, Wally & Aoife performed on the day and brought something truly special to the occasion. Their voices filled the beer garden in a way that felt made for the occasion, warm and generous and rooted in the same community that has supported this place for a hundred years.
We were honoured to have Councillor Norma Moriarty speak on the night, reflecting on what Keating’s Bar has meant to this part of Kerry across the decades. Radio Kerry presenter Joe McGill, spoke beautifully about the legacy of this pub and about Bridie herself. Father Sean also spoke beautifully and shared a prayer with us all to commemorate the occasion.
Families who have come Summer after Summer for generations to camp and caravan with us also joined the celebration. They have marked summers here, celebrated here, and said goodbye at the end of each season with the quiet understanding that they would be back. On the 28th of June they came back for something larger than a usual evening, and we could not have been more grateful to have them there.
The evening ended the way the best evenings here always have, gradually, warmly, with people still deep in conversation long after any formal occasion had passed.
To every person who travelled to be with us on the night, to the families who have made this place part of their summers for generations, and to everyone who has ever walked through this door, thank you.
Here is to the next hundred years at Derrynane Harbour.
All photography by Ruth Brophy Photography.
Video by Outcome Digital
