Dubs may do five or six in row ..but my Kingdom could’ve won NINE SAYS MICK O’DWYER
GAA KERRY ICON HAPPY TO SEE BLUES CHASING DOWN HIS RECORDS Club fund central to weekend
CLIMATE change is part of the reason why Mick O’dwyer will be honoured over a special three-day weekend in his homeplace next month.
Waterville GAA are hosting ‘Mick O’dwyer: A Celebration’ over the weekend of October 26-28 and already the Golf Classic is sold out on the Saturday and Sunday.
But there are still tickets available for the show in honour of the legendary 82-year-old Kerryman that is taking place in the INEC Killarney on Friday 26.
The proceeds will go to local charities and to Waterville GAA itself, where much needed funding will go towards raising the level of the playing pitch by one metre. Over the years the water level has risen and, according to fundraising committee chairman Niall Moran, the pitch is unplayable for over half of the year.
As a consequence Waterville have had to give up home advantage at the start of the club championship for the last three years.
“They just decided it would be the Mick O’dwyer Classic,” laughed Micko. “They’re doing it to raise money to drain the pitch and they want to put in a running track.
“They have the pitch for five months of the year, generally if they get any sort of rain it gets too soft and they can’t play on it.
“And what we also need is a good running pitch that can be used by anyone in the community, children, ladies and everybody.
“We’re very lucky, we have two of the best golf courses nearly in Europe there now and it’s great that people are willing to come to play.
“We’re oversubscribed in teams to play in the golf classic, so that’s very good.” MICK O’DWYER can’t see any team stopping Dublin’s five or even six in a row march, a record-breaking achievement he believes would be deserved.
But then history, as Micko knows only too well, informs us that you can never say for sure.
The most famous county manager in Gaelic football took Kerry to eight All-ireland titles between 1975 and 1989.
But for all that success, O’dwyer will never forget – or be allowed to forget – what occurred in the 1982 All-ireland final, when Offaly substi- tute Seamus Darby killed Kerry’s five in a row dream with a spectacular late goal.
“If you think of it, we could have won nine All-ireland titles in a row at that time,” the 82-yearold reflected yesterday.
“We were beaten in ‘82 by Offaly by a point and in ‘83 Cork beat us by a point. Had we won the two of them we would have won nine in a row.
“That was on, so Dublin have a bit of work to do yet. It looks very much like they will do the five-ina-row, and maybe six-in-a-row.
“The other counties will have to do a lot of work to catch up with Dublin. They’re playing wonderful football.
“They can play the short game and the long game. They have it all and a wonderful panel of players.”
No team has achieved the five in a row in football or hurling, with Kerry and Kilkenny coming close but ultimately not succeeding in the respective codes.
Recalling that dramatic loss to Offaly, O’dwyer maintains that his players were not affected by the hype or the chance to make history.
“No messing now, we treated it as another game,” he said.
“But Offaly had been coming for about five years, they were winning Leinster titles – going from Leinster finals to All-ireland semi-finals to All-ireland finals. So they had a good team.
“We were confident but it was one of those things, a goal in the dying moments, which can happen on any day.
“But still, Offaly deserved to win that one – and maybe we wouldn’t have won the other three in a row if we had have won the five in a row.”
Is the pressure nowadays even
more pronounced, with the huge growth in media outlets and social media sites providing unprecedented analysis and scrutiny?
“I don’t think Dublin will have any problem gping for the fivein-a row because they have the numbers,” O’dwyer stated. “They’re a wonderful panel of players. That’s what you need to win five in a row – and Dublin have that.”
Asked if he would like to see the Dubs achieve a record his team didn’t, O’dwyer replied: “Well, records in general, I like seeing being broken.
“When Roger Banniser broke it ( four minute barrier) for the mile, everybody went through it after that.
“Sure if they do, the best of luck to them. They’re good enough, they deserve to do it.
“But I tell you what, the more I’m looking at the situation, they seem to be set. But I hope that Kerry can put a team together to tackle them. That’s most important from a Kerryman’s point of view.”
With that in mind, Micko stressed that it’s “very, very important” the Kerry county board appoint the right man as Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s successor.
“Well you know it doesn’t always following from having good minor teams,” he pointed out. “Kerry have won five in a row at that level but still the next two years will tell you exactly whether it’s a good thing to be winning minor All-ireland titles. We’ll know quickly if they can make the present team.
“There are plenty of good footballers still in Kerry but they’ll have to be motivated. They’ll have to be worked harder, to put in more work, and if they do that then they’ll be able to compete.”