Mick O'Dwyer

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Mick O'Dwyer
Personal information
Sport	Gaelic football
Place of birth	Kerry , Ireland
Club information
Club	Waterville
Position	?
Club(s)*
Club	Years	Apps (scores)
Waterville	1953 - 1984
Club Titles
Kerry Titles	0
Munster Titles	0
Inter-County
County	Kerry
Position	?
Inter-County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Kerry	1956 - 1974	?
Senior Inter-County Titles
Munster Titles	12
All-Ireland	4
All Stars	?
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of .

Mick O'Dwyer, (born 9 June 1936), is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player from County Kerry. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest and most successful players and managers of all time.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Contents 1 Biographical Information 2 Playing Career 2.1 Roll of Honour as Player 3 Management Career 3.1 Roll of Honour as Manager 4 References

[edit] Biographical Information

Mick O'Dwyer was born in Waterville, County Kerry in 1936. He was educated at St. Finins National School and the local Technical School. O'Dwyer is a Hotelier and an Undertaker by profession. He won inducted in the GAA Hall of Fame in 2004 and won the Kerryman of the Year Award in 1986. Another awards include the manager of the year award in 1984 and he also was awarded an honorary Doctorate from UCD.^[4]

[edit] Playing Career

O'Dwyer first played for the Kerry Gaelic football team as a Minor in 1954, beginning his Senior career in 1956. His 1956 league debut was against Carlow at Tralee on October 21. He then went on to make his championship debut against Waterford on June 2, 1957. From then until his retirement in 1974, "Micko", as he is known, won every honor in the game. His first Senior success came in 1959 when he won National Football League and All-Ireland medals playing in the left half back position. He won his second senior All-Ireland medal in 1962 again at left half back, but Kerry lost to the Galway team in the finals of 1964 and 1965. O'Dwyer broke both his legs in 1966 and retired from football for two years but was back to play in the All-Ireland final of 1968, losing out to Down on that occasion. Micko won two more All-Ireland medals in 1969 and 1970, becoming the top scorer in the game between 1969 and 1971 as well as being named as "Texaco Footballer of the Year" in 1969. O'Dwyer played his last All-Ireland final in 1972, losing out to Offaly in a replay. His final appearance in the Kerry jersey as a senior player was in a challenge match against Sligo at Killorglin on May 19, 1974. He finished as the GAA top scorer two years in a row in both 1969 and 1970.

[edit] Roll of Honour as Player

• Four All-Ireland Senior Football Championships
• Eight National Football League Championships
• Twelve Munster Senior Football Championships
• One Railway Cup
• Three Kerry Senior Football Championship finals with Waterville as player-coach

[edit] Management Career

Mick O'Dwyer
Club Management
Clubs		Years
Waterville		?-?
Achievements
Club	All Ireland	Province	County
Waterville	-	-	3
Inter County Management
County		Years
Wicklow Laois Kildare Kildare Kerry		2007-Present 2003-2006 1998-2002 1991-1994 1975-1986
Achievements
County	All Ireland	Province	League
Kerry Kildare Laois	8 - -	11 1 1	3 - -

O'Dwyer retired as a player in 1974 and was appointed manager of the Kerry team in 1975, where he had much success. During his twelve years as manager O'Dwyer's Kerry teams played in ten All-Ireland finals, winning eight of them. During this period as manager of what many consider to be the greatest football team of all time five of his players won a magical 8 Senior All-Ireland medals. Four of his players won 8 Texaco Awards and overall his players won 71 All Star Awards. O'Dwyer retired as Kerry manager in 1986 but moved onto other teams. His management career with Kerry spanned between 1975-1989, a period in which Kerry played 55 games, which they won 43, lost 7 and drew 5.

O’Dwyer became manager of the Kildare team in 1998, leading them to a Leinster title and an All-Ireland final, however, they narrowly lost out to Galway. His management career with Kildare lasted two periods, the first was 1991-1994 and the second was 1997-2002. As the Kildare manger 33 games were played, with 16 wins, 11 losses and 6 draws.

He took over the Laois team in 2002 which he led to a famous Leinster title in 2003. At the beginning of the football championship in 2006 O'Dywer announced that 2006 would be his last season with Laois, however, he had not ruled out moving as manager to another team. It was first revealed on September 06, 2006 that O'Dwyer would not be staying on at Laois for another season having made his final appearance as Laois manager against Mayo in the All-Ireland Quarter Finals.^[5] His Laois career was between 2003 and 2006, and it included 17 games, which finished as 10 wins, 4 losses and 3 draws.

On October 07, 2006, it was revealed that O'Dwyer has agreed to take charge of the Wicklow senior football team.^[6]He made his debut as Wicklow manager with a win against Carlow in the 2007 O'Byrne Cup.^[7]

[edit] Roll of Honour as Manager

• Eight All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles
• Three All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship titles
• Six Railway Cup titles
• Two Leinster Senior Football Championship titles with Kildare
• One Leinster Senior Football Championship title with Laois
• One Leinster U21 Football Championship titles with Kildare
• Three Kerry Senior Football Championship finals with Waterville as player-coach

[edit] References

Gaelic games
Preceded by Seán O'Neill (Down)	Texaco Footballer of the Year 1969	Succeeded by Tom Prendergast (Kerry)
Preceded by ?	Kerry Senior Football Manager 1975-1989	Succeeded by Mickey 'Ned' O'Sullivan
Preceded by Kevin Heffernan	All-Ireland-winning football manager 1975	Succeeded by Kevin Heffernan
Preceded by Tony Hanahoe	All-Ireland-winning football manager 1978-1981	Succeeded by Eugene McGee
Preceded by Kevin Heffernan	All-Ireland-winning football manager 1984-1986	Succeeded by Sean Boylan
Preceded by ?	Kildare Senior Football Manager 1991-1994	Succeeded by Dermot Earley
Preceded by Dermot Earley	Kildare Senior Football Manager 1998-2002	Succeeded by Pádraig Nolan
Preceded by Colm Browne	Laois Senior Football Manager 2003-2006	Succeeded by Liam Kearns
Preceded by Hugh Kenny	Wicklow Senior Football Manager 2007 – present	Incumbent