THEY have both enjoyed great success in Croke Park before with Mike Buckley winning an All-Ireland Club Championship with Dr Crokes in 1992 and his son, Johnny, captaining the black and amber to the same title in 2017.

And the Killarney father and son were back at the scene of their greatest triumphs on Monday night to see the company they run declared an All-Star at an All-Ireland Business Summit gala awards ceremony in Croke Park.

The Audi sponsored event is an annual competition designed to identify, recognise and accredit Irish companies and individuals that have distinguished themselves in business in the previous 12 months.

Kerry Coaches, owned and run by Mike and Johnny Buckley, was presented with the All-Star Family Run Business award at the ceremony in GAA headquarters. The 1,000 strong audience from the 32 counties was captivated by the guest speakers who revealed their top secrets, confessions and how they achieve their business success.

Kieran F Ring, CEO Global Institute of Logistics and deputy chairperson of the adjudication panel, said the decision to honour Kerry Coaches was based on the score achieved in four rounds of intense competition.

“The application, supported by references, interviews and independent ratings via the mystery shopper process left the adjudication panel in no doubt that Kerry Coaches is richly deserving of this accreditation,” he said.

“We are truly humbled and honoured to have won this award and would like to extend our thanks to the invaluable team behind us in Kerry Coaches. Kerry Coaches managing director, Mike Buckley, said achieving All-Star accreditation was a great source of pride for all involved in the company.

“We would also like to extend a thank you to all involved in the competition for making the effort to listen to our story, understand and accredit our business and for creating a platform for building relationships, facilitating new business and improving business.,” he said.

Dr Briga Hynes of the Kemmy Business School in UL and chairperson adjudication panel said

Kerry Coaches had demonstrated an ability to innovate and the company has impressive growth plans which reflects the resilience and optimism that are the hallmarks of Irish entrepreneurs.