Micko mulls over his sporting odyssey
Offaly denied a great Kerry team their place in history with a last minute goal from Seamus Darby and O’Dwyer was devastated for months, but then was able to put things in perspective: “Matt Connor, one of the greatest Gaelic footballers I ever saw, was seriously injured in a car accident later that year and is now paralysed from the hips down. “When you consider something like that, you ask yourself, ‘what do five All-Irelands in-a-row really mean in that context?’ It was only fitting that a player of Matt’s calibre won an All-Ireland medal.”
Despite steering Laois to their first All-Ireland semi-final in 57 years, O’Dwyer continues to play down his role.
In an interview with Hot Press magazine following the Leinster final win over Kildare, O’Dwyer said he believed it would take anything up to three years to put things right in the O’Moore County.
“I have to be honest, when I arrived in Laois it was very much a case of getting 30 players together who would be prepared to give the commitment.
“Once that framework was in place I could build from there. I thought it would take two to three years to mould a winning team, but things came together very well in the space of 12 months.
“Emotionally it was difficult for me coming up against a county I had previously been involved with. It was equally difficult for me when Kildare beat Kerry in the All-Ireland series in ‘98.
“I never envisaged that happening. Sending Kildare out to beat my native county was something I didn’t especially enjoy doing, but that’s part and parcel of sport”.
O’Dwyer recalls 1975, when he took over as the Kerry coach.
“I started completely from scratch with a bunch of young, inexperienced players, but we got very lucky. We defeated Cork the first year, something we didn’t expect. Maybe they were over-confident and they also panicked, began to chop and change their team, something I wouldn’t have done.
“After that it all began to happen for us. Eoin Liston was brought on board which was the final piece of the jigsaw and we went on to create records that will never be broken.”
Referring to professionalism in the GAA, O’Dwyer said he was always a supporter of a semi-professional game, but would stop short of full professionalism, simply because the organisation could not sustain it.
“Players who lose wages because of injury should be reimbursed, and I don’t have a problem with players doing some advertising and getting paid for it.”
On the question of opening up Croke Park to other sports, O’Dwyer said he had no objections: “Anything that can generate cash for our own organisation I would take no matter what the source - soccer, rugby, American football or rock concerts.”
O’Dwyer also takes the government to task for their failure to implement a physical educational programme in primary schools.
“You must start at primary level, that’s where all our problems are coming from. I think every class should engage in physical education and if that means paying teachers to stay on for the extra hour, then so be it, What’s more important in life than health?”
Now in his 67th year, there are few challenges left for O’Dwyer to conquer, but it’s surprising he was never given charge of an Ireland team for the Compromise Rules internationals with the Australians.
“My forthright views over the years may have something to do with that,” said Micko.
“It has never been particularly high on my agenda. To be honest I’m more than happy to do my own thing with Kildare or Laois or whoever I happen to be coaching at the time.”
O’Dwyer appears to getting a kick out of Pat Spillane’s match analysis.
“Pat has never hesitated to put the boot in to me for some of the things I’ve done at games. Maybe it was deserved.
“I think he is great. We need more people like him. Whether he’s the new Eamon Dunphy remains to be seen, but I admire him greatly. He’s a real breath of fresh air.”
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