Jack O’Connor: Micko was a constant presence in our lives
Jack O'Connor brings the Sam Maguire to Mick O'Dwyer in his home in Waterville.
Friends reunited. After claiming his fourth All-Ireland title as manager in 2022, Jack O’Connor brought Sam Maguire on a trip to South Kerry. He brought the cup to Waterville, where Mick O’Dwyer could hold the cup again.
“It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, to be honest,” said O’Connor, speaking on the Gaelic football podcast.
“I think it was the Wednesday after the All-Ireland. We were bringing the cup, myself and my brother, to my parents’ grave in a place called New Chapel near Waterville. After saying a few prayers there, somebody suggested we should go down and check on Micko. He is just down the road, a kilometre or so.
“We went down and knocked on the door. Lo and behold, he was inside and he welcomed us in. We spent a good half an hour with him, which was very pleasant.”
O’Dwyer won four All-Irelands as a player and a further eight as the manager during a magnificent 15-season stretch. He led Kerry to ten All-Ireland finals, scaling the summit for the first time in 1975 with victory over Dublin. Seeing the Kingdom claim gold never lost its allure.
“We talked about himself first and his health,” said current Kerry manager O’Connor.
“The thing that stood out was that his mind was very sharp. He was just a bit sentimental; he had his hand around the cup and I could see his mind working. The memories it brought back to himself. His head was still in the game, he knew about the game, he had watched it. I tell you, there was nothing wrong with him upstairs.”
They both hailed from South Kerry. That meant O’Dwyer occupied a special place in his mind.
“I was brought up in the neighbouring club, Dromid Pearses. Over the road from Waterville. He was a constant presence in our lives. I was 15 in ’75 when he came with that great team and obviously, before that, I’d have grown up listening to Michael O'Hehir describing him playing because we didn’t have television until I was 15 or 16.
“Long before I saw him, he was a legend in our minds. Funny enough, I played with Waterville around 20 or 21 for a couple of years. I fell out with my own club and Micko was our manager, so I came under his influence for a couple of years.
“The thing that stood out, he was well into his 40s or early 50s but still ferociously enthusiastic and fit. He used to go kicking with us. You still felt he was fit enough to play. He kept himself in great shape all his life. It was boundless enthusiasm, that was his greatest asset.”
O’Dwyer set the standard. He later enjoyed two terms in charge of Kildare, leading them to their first Leinster title in 42 years. O’Connor also managed Kildare for two years before returning for a third stint at one of the highly-pressurised jobs in Irish sport.
“I have often documented how tough it is to manage Kerry in the modern era, it is ferociously demanding and all the rest of it,” said O’Connor.
“People might not realise this. Micko took over Kerry in 1975 and won an All-Ireland with a young team. A team full of U21s that he had coached the previous couple of years. After Dublin beat Kerry in ’76 and ’77, there were people calling for Micko’s head. Looking back now, it is hilarious. It is just unbelievable. That was a fact.
“It was due to the backing of the likes of Gerald McKenna that he survived in the job. Many people won’t remember that. Micko remembered. He often reminded people of it. They were after me. He often made a comment that resonated with a lot of people. He said, 'there is 31 and a half counties against Kerry.' It often feels a bit like that when things aren’t going well. A lot of your own people aren’t exactly supporting you.”
Did they draw from the same source? The sense that they are an outsider?
“Well, a bit of truth in it. Particularly when we were growing up, we were well away from the main population centres in Kerry. We are a long way from anywhere. When we were growing up we seemed to be further away because of the lack of transport and stuff like that. An outsider?
“Look, it never works unless you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder. It spurs you on to prove people wrong. I think that thing, what I was talking about a while ago with people after Micko’s head in ‘77, I think that spurred him on. No doubt about it. He often spoke about it. He kept it in the locker as motivation to prove people wrong.
“That is never a bad thing. We are always looking for angles. That isn’t a bad angle, to prove people wrong.”
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