The late Mick O’Dwyer is being remembered as the greatest Gaelic football manager of all time.
The most successful manager in inter-county football history has passed away at the age of 88.
The Waterville man won four All-Ireland medals as a player in a lengthy Kerry career, before going on to unrivalled success as manager of the Kerry senior football team.
Mick O’Dwyer in his own words, speaking to Radio Kerry in the 2000s.
His great run started in Waterville in 1936, and from there he became one of the most successful players of his era with four All-Ireland medals – originally as a back but later as a prolific forward.
Kerry won the All-Ireland in 1975 in O’Dwyer’s first year as manager, and he would go on to coach the county team to seven more All-Irelands with a four-in-a-row and a three-in-a-row, regarded as Kerry’s greatest footballing era.
He led Kildare and Laois to provincial success, also bringing Kildare to an All-Ireland final, managed Wicklow to success in the Tommy Murphy Cup and also coached the Clare footballers.
The President and Taoiseach have led tributes from outside the GAA world, with both expressing sympathies to his family.
Kenmare’s Mickey Ned O’Sullivan, who played with Micko, played under his management, and succeeded him as Kerry boss, sums up Micko as a man:
Another of Kerry’s greatest footballers of all time, Mikey Sheehy, paid this tribute to Mick O’Dwyer:
