Friends and foes acclaim a legend

Former team-mates and opponents spoke yesterday of their respect for Páidí Ó Sé as a “creative” footballer, an innovator in the development of attacking half-back play and his expertise as a manager.

“Off the field, I would have been friendly with him and had some good craic with him over the years on All Star trips and things like that,” recalled Cork legend Denis Allen last night.

“I liked his style, he was a great player. He was more of a good footballer than a defender. People say he was a man-marker, but he wasn’t. He was too creative for that. He was able to read the game and he was tough. You could see why Tomás Ó Sé is good going forward — he definitely got that from his uncle. In the dressing room, he was very inspirational. I know Mikey (Sheehy) said at times that if you felt you were up against it, you’d look over at Páidí and you’d see his attitude coming out. I played with him a few times with Munster and he was the same. He just wanted to win every match.”