Current Kerry manager Jack O’Connor is among those who have paid tribute to his fellow county man Mick O’Dwyer, whose death, at the age of 88, was announced on Thursday morning.
“He set the standard for all of us and we’re only trotting after him,” O’Connor told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland. “The record he had with that team between 1975 and ‘88, winning eight All-Irelands in 12 years, that will never be matched again.
“The standards himself and Kevin Heffernan set drove the standards of Gaelic football to new levels. Two driven men. The GAA has an awful lot to be thankful to both of them for, particularly Mick because he was such a great ambassador for the GAA. After leaving Kerry he spread the gospel to four other counties, to Kildare, Laois, Wicklow and Clare.”
Writing in The Examiner, Éamonn Fitzmaurice, another former Kerry player and manager, said that O’Dwyer had been a “living deity” in the county, “viewed through a variety of lenses, depending on a person’s particular generation”.
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“The classy footballer to elders and peers ... the force of nature and all-conquering manager to Generation X and Micko to subsequent generations. Micko eventually became the universal term for him, one of affection and respect. He will be hugely missed, by his family in particular. He was larger than life, a warm rogue who loved football, Kerry and Waterville.”
Jimmy Deenihan, who captained Kerry to All-Ireland success under O’Dwyer in 1981, described him as “one of the greatest managers ever, a coach, a trainer, a psychologist, he was everything in Gaelic football”. A revolutionary too, Deenihan talking of O’Dwyer’s trips to Manchester United and Liverpool to study their training methods, some of which he introduced to the Kerry camp.
“He was, quite simply, the man with the Midas touch,” said GAA president Jarlath Burns. “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.”
In his statement, President Michael D Higgins said O’Dwyer would be “warmly remembered by the people of Kildare, Laois and Wicklow for the success which he subsequently brought to their counties, as well as for his contribution to Clare”, while Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that “his sporting legacy is unmatched”. “He embodied everything good about the game – dedication, ambition, positivity and community.”
Fitzmaurice concluded by recalling O’Dwyer saying, “I had a marvellous run. but wasn’t I lucky to be born in Kerry?”
“Weren’t we all Micko. Rest easy, a chara.”
