Kevin Mussen

{{Short description|Irish Gaelic footballer}}

{{Use Hiberno-English|date=June 2025}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}

{{Use Irish English|date=November 2020}}

{{Infobox GAA player

| code= Football

| sport = Gaelic football

| image =

| name = Kevin Mussen

| irish =

| feet =

| inches =

| occupation =

| county = Down

| province = Ulster

| club = Clonduff

| cposition =

| clubs =

| clyears = 1950s-1960s

| clapps(points) =

| clcounty = 2

| clprovince=

| clallireland =

| counties = Down

| icposition = Right half-back

| icyears = 1951-1962

| icapps(points) =

| icprovince = 3

| icallireland = 2

| nfl = 2

| allstars =

| clupdate =

| icupdate =

| birth_place=Hilltown, County Down

}}

Kevin Mussen (born 8 October 1933 in Hilltown, County Down) is an Irish retired Gaelic footballer. He played for his local club Clonduff and was a member of the Down senior intercounty team from 1951 until 1962. Mussen played at half-back and captained Down to their first All-Ireland title in 1960, the first time that the Sam Maguire Cup had crossed the border to the North.{{cite web|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/Down/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=94908|title=Profile of Kevin Mussen|publisher=www.hoganstand.com|date=1993-10-24|accessdate=2009-09-16}} He was a substitute when Down retained the title in 1961.

Mussen has three Ulster Championship medals. He is twice a winner of: the All-Ireland, National League, the Railway Cup, inter-provincial colleges, the MacRory Cup, the Down Senior Football Championship and Down Senior League.Micheal McGeary, [https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/then-and-now-at-the-double/28141070.html 'Then and now: At the double']. Belfast Telegraph, 31 March 2002. Retrieved 21 June 2025 Mussen also won an Antrim Senior Football Championship medal for Rossa while teacher-training in Belfast.

As of June 2025, Mussen confirmed that only five of the Down team that started the 1960 final against Kerry were still alive; even at the age of 92 he was able to name the fifteen players.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0ljvntt 'Kevin Mussen. The first man to bring Sam across the border']. BBC Sport, 17 June 2025. Retrieved 20 June 2025 Mussen recalled that when the Sam Maguire Cup was being carried across the border,Peter Makem, [https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/when-down-s-1960-all-ireland-victory-brought-down-barriers-1.4367907 'When Down's 1960 All-Ireland victory brought down barriers']. The Irish Times, 30 September 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2025 after being temporarily brought off the team bus, a Northern Ireland customs officer "messed us around for a little while" before weight of numbers prevailed.

Mussen stated that he had never played against anyone better than Jim McKeever of Derry, whom he knew from St Mary's Training College (the Ranch), and Mick O'Connell of Kerry.

He was married in August 1960, lived in Newcastle where his wife Josie was from and was a teacher in his native Hilltown. His wife died in 2004. They had five children, Grainne, Marcella, Fionnuala, Damien and Adrian.