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LAST UPDATE | 3 Apr
THE MAJESTIC BEAUTY of Kerry has enthralled visitors from all over the globe, who are lucky enough to visit the place in Ireland known as Gaeilge as An Ríocht.
The Kingdom.
If Kerry is the Kingdom, then Mick O’Dwyer was the King.
A giant of Gaelic football who may have departed, but who will never be forgotten. A leader who achieved on and off the field of play.
Micko’s passing at the age of 88 will lead many to ask the question: How did he achieve all he did?
A simple answer is his love of the game.
Born in Waterville in 1936, Micko first played for the Kerry senior football team in 1956 and would go on to have an extraordinary success-laden career as a player and manager, coaching the Kingdom and later Kildare, Laois, Wicklow and Clare.
The script for Micko’s own career reads like a Shakespearean play — he won four All-Ireland titles in a row before Offaly’s Seamus Darby denied him the fifth. Then coach Kildare to a Leinster final victory in 1998 and five years later, return to Croke Park with victory over Kildare for Laois and repeat the process.
Initially a defender, he switched to attack with great effect and was regularly among the game’s top marksmen. His success as a player would be eclipsed by the passion and energy that defined his managerial career, that make him football’s most successful ever coach and a man who had a central role in the evolution of Gaelic football.
Micko loved Kerry and loved Waterville. If you have ever walked along the streets there, you will be aware that the memory of two icons is celebrated for all time… Micko cast in bronze in his prime, selling a dummy to any defender who would fall for it and one of the world’s first global superstars Charlie Chaplin, who loved visiting Waterville from his first appearance there in 1959. That was the year Waterville’s most famous Gaelic footballer won his first All-Ireland Senior Football medal in the green and gold.
Of all that he won, Micko told me that that medal was by far and away his highlight. It’s unclear whether the Hollywood superstar from the silent movie era joined in any of the celebrations. It wasn’t gaelic football that brought Chaplin to Waterville but apparently a recommendation from Walt Disney about the fly fishing to be had there. Maybe he stayed for the Gaelic football, too?
After all, this was also the GAA club from where Micko would go on to have a 57-year inter-county career as a player and manager, claiming four All-Ireland titles as a player and eight more as manager of Kerry’s legendary 1970s and 80s teams.
Micko was inducted into the GAA Hall of Fame 10 years ago, along with Sligo’s Mickey Kearns, Waterford’s Pat McGrath and Kilkenny’s Noel Skehan. He wasn’t overly warm to the idea and remarked that generally, things like that signal ‘the end of the road!’
However, even then, at 79, he was still involved in underage coaching in his native place. I remember the first interview I did with him, in which he spoke about tending the lobster pots around Waterville and how different life might have been if he stuck with that.
Thankfully, he didn’t.
His favourite win as manager? The 1978 All Ireland senior football final. “Because it came after two defeats by Dublin”, he said.
GAA President Jarlath Burns is leading the tributes and extended the sympathies of the Association with the O’Dwyer family, saying his passing “marks the loss of not just a Kerry legend but one of the true giants and icons of Gaelic games.”
“He was, quite simply, the man with the Midas touch.
“The spell he weaved with that magnificent Kerry team of the 70s and 80s was a magic that was as intoxicating for us in South Armagh as it was in his own beloved South Kerry. The sideline battle of wits that he waged with Kevin Heffernan and Eugene McGee not only defined a generation for GAA fans, but they elevated Gaelic football to a whole new height and popularity.
“Before all of that, he had been an incredible footballer in his own right, playing senior inter-county football for 18 years, winning four All-Irelands and eight national league medals and was Footballer of the Year in 1969.
“His switch from playing retirement in 1974 to an All-Ireland winning manager in 1975 is one of the greatest comeback stories in GAA history, going on to win the Sam Maguire eight times in a golden 11-year period.
“Charismatic, clever and a shrewd judge of character, the provincial success he would enjoy coaching Kildare and Laois and the silverware he landed with Wicklow underscored his genius at getting the best out of players.
“His passion for cars was only outpaced by the grá for Gaelic football that constantly stirred in him and had him coaching local underage teams in Waterville up to the age of 79.
“There will only ever be one Micko, and while his passing is an enormous loss to his close family and great many friends, amongst the wider GAA family, his memory will forever be celebrated and cherished, and we will be forever thankful that he was one of our own. How many can say they won four All Irelands as a player and eight as a manager?
“Go dtuga Dia suaimhneas síoraí dó.”
Long live Micko’s Memory.
Long Live the King.
Paul Collins is a broadcaster and the founder of Ballywire Media.
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A lovely read ( eulogy) there Paul. The 1st word comes to my mind about Mick is ” LEGEND “. May he R.I.P.
Well written.
He was a great man. RIP
Rest in peace Mick.
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