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Waterville maestro won eight All-Ireland senior football titles as Kingdom manager The late, great Mick O'Dwyer Photo Diarmuid Greene / Sportsfile One of the greatest GAA people, and one of the greatest Kerry people, Mick O’Dwyer, has passed this morning, April 3 at the age of 88. The Waterville maestro – born on June 9, 1936 – will be remembered for his achievements on and off the field. A brilliantly stylish player in the green and gold in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, O’Dwyer transitioned to become the most successful manager the Kingdom has ever seen in his post-playing career.
O’Dwyer will forever be remembered as the key figure in the Kerry golden years of the 1970s and 1980s. Having led a brilliant young Kerry team to an insurgent All Ireland title in 1975 as manager, he went on to coach the Kingdom to seven further All-Ireland titles over an eleven year period, including the famous four in-a-row between 1978 and 1981. The drive for five was famously ended by a late goal by Séamus Darby and Offaly in the 1982 final, but even after that significant set-back the South Kerry man led the Kingdom to another three titles in succession between 1984 and 1986.
O’Dwyer later went on to act as a football evangelist or missionary, bringing unprecedented success to Kildare (which whom he and his son Karl reached the 1998 All Ireland final) and Laois (whom he led to a first Leinster title in 57 years). He also spent time in both Wicklow (with whom he won a Tommy Murphy Cup) and Clare before hanging up the bainisteoir’s bid at inter-county level for the last time in 2013, a remarkable 38 years after first picking it up. Away from the playing fields O’Dwyer was a successful business man, keen musician, golfer and raconteur.
O’Dwyer married his late wife Mary Carmel (nee O’Sullivan) in 1962 and together they had four sons: John, Michael, Robbie and Karl. Mary Carmel passed in 2012, but O’Dwyer found love again late in life when he wed Geraldine McGirr in 2023. His legend long since burnished, O’Dwyer’s place in the history of his county, and in the history of the game he loved so much is assured.
One of the greats, if not the greatest GAA men has passed on, never to be forgotten..
