Legendary Kerry manager Mick O'Dwyer dies aged 88

Mick O'Dwyer, the legendary Kerry Gaelic football manager and player, has died at the age of 88.

Throughout a 57-year inter-county career as player and manager, O'Dwyer rewrote the history books and arguably changed the face of Gaelic football.

He won four All-Irelands as a player and a further eight as the manager of the brilliant Kerry team of the 1970s and 80s, whose rivalry with Dublin came to define an era of Gaelic football.

The Waterville native won 23 Munster titles and 11 National Leagues as player and manager, helping to establish Kerry as the dominant football force in the country.

Over the course of his 33-year involvement with his native county O'Dwyer had a hand in almost one-third of Kerry's 37 All-Ireland titles since 1903. The Kingdom have won seven in the 33 years since he stood down as manager, in 1989.

Having stepped away from Kerry, O'Dwyer enjoyed a remarkable later career managing Kildare, Laois, Wicklow and Clare.

He won Leinster championships with Kildare in 1998 and 2000, guiding them to an All-Ireland final in '98, where they lost by four points to Galway.

In 2003 he led Laois to their sixth ever provincial title, beating Kildare 2-13 to 1-13 in the final. His stint in Wicklow delivered another trophy, the 2007 Tommy Murphy Cup, which was followed the next year by a memorable Championship win over Kildare.

In 2009, 13-man Wicklow defeated Fermanagh in a round one qualifier, which meant 'Micko' had beaten every county in the country over the course of his managerial career.

The 76-year-old O'Dwyer managed Clare in 2013 but stood down after a single season and did not manage again.

O'Dwyer was a hotelier and undertaker in his native Waterville. His first wife Mary Carmel died in 2012 and he married Geraldine Shields in 2023.

O'Dwyer is survived by his wife Geraldine, his sons John, Robbie and Karl, and is pre-deceased by another son Michael.