Magical memories of Micko in Wicklow
THE legend that is Mick O’Dwyer has been branded with many titles in his eighty years by all the people he has touched and those who have never been fortunate enough to meet him with his manic love for the game of the GAA.
Those who have worked closely with him talk of his obsession with the game and how he believes it should be played, the sacrifices each and every member of his backroom staff and panel of players must be prepared to make to reach the goals they yearn for are something he expected would be agreed without need for a handshake or any sort of contract.
He was after all ready to make the 500 kilometre roundtrip from his Waterville home many times every week to reach the venues chosen systematically and dotted around every corner of Wicklow in his tenure here.
The reason, to put the players that he had undying belief in even if they didn’t have it in themselves at the start, through punishing training that seen many depart as the monotony of circling these picturesque fields broke the weak and made the strong even stronger, it was this resolve he instilled that was to be a hallmark of his Wicklow teams and what made them so hard to beat.
This was something he took pride in, the fact that he took Wicklow to a level where they weren’t everybody’s choice when a draw was being made something new for sure in these parts.
In Wicklow when he came we may have not had the bar set so high not having won a championship game since 2000 and floating around the lower tiers of the league missing out on crucial big promotions a couple of times that could have seen us make the all so important next step.
Our first championship win in Croke Park followed as did a Tommy Murphy Cup win also at headquarters. In 2009 under Micko we competed in the last twelve in the All-Ireland only losing out narrowly to Kildare in Portlaoise, some jump in the rankings.
Some good work behind the scenes from Billy Timmons, Arthur French and the county board under the stewardship of the then chairman Mick O’Hagan seen them deliver the services of the greatest manager of them all to Wicklow, and how we all loved it.
Sean Mulryan of Ballymore Properties came on board as main team sponsor and Brian Brennan and the Arklow Bay Hotel were also heavily involved later on.
Current chairman of the county board Martin Coleman was Micko’s trusted connection with the players and the county board and he ensured everything ran smoothly.
At a special party for Micko last weekend his great friend Martin now in his capacity as county chairmen attended along with Jimmy Whittle and former player Paddy Dalton.
The Sea Lodge Hotel in Waterville was host to a function attended by some of the greats of GAA and beyond.
No doubting that another seat in that car travelling south would have been taken by the late Peter Keogh had he been still with us as no two people enjoyed each other’s company as much as he and Micko did in his time in Wicklow and Peter really soaked up and loved the new found love for the GAA that was blooming in the garden back then.
Rathvilly native Noel Molloy had played inter-county football for Carlow and was blessed with the ability to heal, he could see a move too so Micko often sought more than a player diagnosis from him. Jimmy Whittle was a jack of all trades and an eager worker who left nothing to chance. He had a team of helpers who grew in to their roles and their bond grew as the years passed.
It all took off at rapid pace. The pomp and ceremony of the announcement of his appointment at the Westbury hotel was something only reserved for those special characters who everybody wants a piece of.
Nowadays inter-county managers might get a few lines in the national press and will only feature on the sports news section on television if it is what’s known as a slow news day. Not the case when the man who never dared called himself “The special one” rocked up with a grin as wide as the Connor Pass to take the reins of a team ranked the worst in Ireland at that time.
Had he finally lost it they wondered? Wicklow they sniggered. No underage success in recent times unlike Kildare and Laois his previous employers he was surely on a hiding to nothing. Was he in danger of damaging one of the finest ever garnered reputations in the GAA world in to the bargain.
The first players meeting in Aughrim seen every seat and standing position filled as over 100 players and lookers on hung on every word O’Dwyer and his selectors two great leaders in their own right Philip McGillycuddy and Kevin O’Brien had to say. O’Brien trained as hard as the players at times and McGillycuddy with Kerry blood in his veins was an astute man on the line.
Everybody who knows anything about Micko knows he never had great love for the offerings of league football and made no secret of this. He had won titles with Kerry and Kildare in the league but knew Wicklow needed more than league wins early in the year to capture the imagination of a suspicious GAA public in Wicklow.
The GAA people in Wicklow in 2006 and beyond were like a family who had a long running disagreement still keeping them from sitting and dining contently at the one table, O’Dwyer went about forcing them in to a room in his own way and as a result some great friendships and rivalries were cast aside for the greater good.
Regularly travelling in the style with a Mercedes frequently seen cruising along the back roads the myth of him driving around with suitcases of money hid in the boot has always followed him around with those who were possessed by the green eyed monster only too eager to fatten the fable.
Any player who played under him in Wicklow will only speak of him in the highest regard for the way he made sure they never lacked for or were left wanting for anything in his reign. His ability to relate to people of all ages also increased his popularity still further, the pictures of the beaming throngs awaiting his departure from the dressing rooms in Aughrim after some of the great qualifier wins was a sight to behold.
Kids clamoured for photos and autographs and he always made time, he encouraged the players to embrace it and enjoy it, this was after all why they had done the laps and made the sacrifices those that had stuck with him and stood by him. This was where memories were made and where he felt Wicklow needed to start with him hoping the infectious love he had for the GAA would transfer to the young players of the future.
The championship was where you done your stuff he always believed, this was where the hard yards put in on the slopes of the back field in Baltinglass, under the lights of a freezing Knockananna, in Dunlavin as the sun was only clearing the sleep out of its own eyes or wading across the river in Shillelagh after a punishing session that O’Dwyer looked on as essential character building the likes of never before seen in Wicklow.
The tales of lads hiding in ditches of the blacked out corners of pitches the length and breadth of the county were spreading. Micko believed if a lad was lapped two or three times a night but kept going he would get to the group with persistence and the group would reap the benefits.
From after his appointment Wicklow were a new toy for the national media. Training sessions were well attended by supporters and media alike with the competitive games well worth a viewing as players gave their all to catch his eye. The television cameras rolled in to Aughrim for the visit of Carlow and to be honest we were lucky to win that one.
A player not known to many of the even die-hard Wicklow followers scored the winning goal and earned his place in Wicklow GAA folklore, that man Paul Phibbs from Lacken, a proud junior club had produced a player good enough for Mick O’Dwyer and every player in Wicklow could now see the door was open.
Lads who had never wanted to put themselves forward for selection suddenly felt the burning desire to wear the Wicklow jersey. After running the rule over hundreds of footballers he finally had assembled a squad that could compete with the best of them.
Convoys of cars followed the team all over the country and when they played in Aughrim you had to be there early to get the good seats. Victor Shaughnessy recently remarked to me about the surge of interest he could feel within the county when Micko arrived.
Having heard the stories of how this legend of a man was viewed all around the world it was the trip to New York with the Wicklow team after the Tommy Murphy Cup win where he really seen the esteem Micko was held in at its best as every Irishman in exile wanted a chat or a photo.
The sight of young kids in Wicklow jerseys was common place and overnight stays for the away trips became the norm for the real die-hards. Amazing to think that one man could have such an influence on the mood of a county. He did divide opinion at times with his perceived reluctance to push hard to get out of division four but it wasn’t stubbornness but his love of the championship that was always pulling at his heart strings.
Great times were had by players and fans in those years 2006-2011, for O’Dwyer himself to achieve the feat of beating every county as a manager with the defeat of Fermanagh in the 2009 qualifiers it was a marriage that everybody was happy in.
Many lines have been written and many more will be about Micko but for now a simple thank you might do and if you have an hour to spare on Friday get down to the Arklow Bay because if you want a chat or a photo there will be a Kerry man there with a smile on his face who will be only too happy to oblige.