Described by the Irish Times as ‘one of the most influential football personalities in the GAA’s history’ and by his own admission, ‘addicted to football’, the great Mick O’ Dwyer brought some of his magic to Mullingar Shamrocks when we won the 2012 Senior county title. 

Thanks to the extensive football contact network of manager Ray Smyth, Mick O’ was a weekend guest of the club back in 2012. He participated in the underage coaching  in Springfield on Saturday morning and took the senior squad for a training session in the evening. This was the year that John Ganly was playing the best football of his life and no doubt was given an additional confidence boost when word filtered back about how he was rated by the Messiah from Kerry. In a conversation with Ray and Pearse, Mick O singled out John for the excellence of his kicking technique and enquired if John was long retired from the inter-county scene. Receiving this kind of commendation from the greatest manager in the history of the sport one could hardly go wrong and John was a key figure in winning that 2012 championship and preventing Garrycastle, All-Ireland club finalists, from adding 4-in-a-row titles to their extensive list of accomplishments. 

Mick O’ tops the list of All-Ireland football winners as players and managers with 12 titles (the other Kerry rogue who had such an impact in Westmeath has 10) and for a man who made his debut when Kerry were beaten by Waterford in 1957 that is some record. It could be argued that the foundation for the Dublin 6-in-a-row All-Ireland title  was made in the1970s with the great Kerry-Dublin rivalry given the family connections between the Dubs of that era and the recent successful Dubs. Actually, there is no argument: without the 1970s Dubs there would have been no 6-in-a-row. 

Mick O’ was our guest in February 2013 at our celebration Dinner Dance in the Greville Arms and addressed the guests in his usual style. The champion teams of 1986 and 1987 were also honoured on the night which was a great Pearse Corroon (Chairperson) promotion with typical Pearse attention to detail for the big club occasion.   

RIP Mick O and say hello to The Killer for us.