'The wheel keeps on turning' - capturing the moment Sam was reunited with Micko
FOOTBALL ROYALTY: Jack O'Connor and Mick O'Dwyer with the Sam Maguire in Waterville on Friday night. Pic: Cian O'Connor
“We left Dingle on Friday morning with the Sam Maguire and headed for home in St Finians Bay before the official All-Ireland homecoming in Dromid that night.
“What would normally be about a two hour journey took about four and half hours as we stopped at various places along the way including a call to see Jack’s good friend Dan Tim O’Sullivan in Kells.
“At a few places, Jack would go on ahead and see if this person or that person was home and then he would ring me to bring the Cup. I’d have to time my run between the traffic so that Sam Maguire wouldn’t be spotted.
“What struck me most was the reaction of people along the way. It was like carrying the relics of St James - everyone wanted to see and touch the Sam Maguire.
“We eventually got home and gathered ourselves for a while. Shortly afterwards we met up with my aunts and uncles and travelled up to the family grave in Waterville where my grandparents, Jack’s mother and father are buried. Jack did a lot of praying to his parents during the year.
“While we were there, Jack asked his brother Mike if we should call to see Mick O’Dwyer.
“In the aftermath of the All-Ireland final, Micko had sent through a message to Jack congratulating him on the win over Galway.
“Now you can only imagine how many messages Jack received after the game but certain messages mean a bit more and that one from Micko meant a lot to him.
“Though they’d be club rivals, they would have fierce respect for each other.
“Jack had been thinking about it during the day and felt it would be a nice gesture to call to see Micko with the trophy. We left the graveyard and headed down into Waterville. Nothing was arranged so we (Jack, Mike, myself and my wife Maeve) headed to Micko’s house but we weren’t sure he’d be there.
“Mary, who helps out with Micko, answered the door and welcomed us in. In we went and there was Micko, sitting in a fine comfortable chair looking out towards the golf course. Jack sat down alongside him and they had a few quiet words for a few minutes.
"I took a load of photos of them together but there was one of them in deep conversation that was the standout.
“It was just the way that Jack was looking at Micko, and Micko had his hand on the Cup.
“I knew straightaway that this was a powerful picture which sums up all that is good about Kerry football. It is never about one man - it is about tradition. I checked with Micko if he was happy that we made the picture public and he gave the green light.
“We left for Dromid and after the ceremony there I said that I’d send the picture to the Kerry county board for use on their social media. I had to walk a few hundred yards to get phone reception and I rang Leona Twiss who is the Kerry GAA PRO and explained the picture I had taken.
"She told me to send it on straightaway and she would do the rest. It went up on their social media around 8pm on Friday night and within 20 minutes it had 35,000 views. I don’t know how many people have seen it since.
“As I said earlier, it is about the Kerry way and passing the baton through the generations.
"At the homecoming in Dromid I watched Declan O’Sullivan in the middle of the crowd looking up with pride at Graham O’Sullivan on the platform. The wheel keeps on turning and hopefully another photograph like this will be taken in 30 or 40 years time.”
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