He was an islander with a remarkable talent on the GAA playing fields, and his name evoked wonder and excitement among followers of the code. In a career which spanned the 1950s to the 1970s, Mick O'Connell, from Valentia island, in Kerry, won four All-Ireland medals with his native county, one as captain, as well as several other honours. Some of the GAA correspondents of that era regarded him as the greatest ever exponent of the game.
Throughout his sporting career, and indeed afterwards when he became involved in politics for a time as an Independent member of Kerry County Council, he never sought the limelight. But even today, when another generation of footballers has gripped the public imagination, his name is frequently recalled. And, in recognition of his achievements over the years, he is the current Kerry Person of the Year, an annual award made by the Kerry Association in Dublin.
For most of O'Connell's playing career, there was no bridge from the south Kerry mainland to his island home in Valentia. The bridge was finally built in the early 1970s. It meant that travelling to football matches throughout the State for most of his career began and ended with a boat journey.
Little interest in cup
When O'Connell captained Kerry to victory in 1959, he showed little interest in the Sam Maguire cup, which he left behind him, and the post-match celebrations. The story of how it happened is part of GAA folklore. He wrote in his 1974 autobiography, A Kerry Footballer: "Picture if you can, a fellow hoisted shoulder high with an aching knee and the weighty Sam Maguire cup. From my vantage point it was not the green of Croke Park that I saw but one huge mass of jubilant supporters. No hand free, but everyone wants to shake hands. So the cup and I parted company very quickly. Whose hands it went into or where it went, I had no idea, nor was it possible to make oneself heard in such a situation to effect a rescue.
"Attending receptions was not a habit of mine so as usual I headed homewards. As I limped to the train in Dublin that evening, my thoughts were not on wine, women nor song as might be expected. What was on my mind was the problem of securing my punt (small boat) above high water mark when I reached the island that night."
The cup was brought to Valentia one night in the following week, and O'Connell heard the sound of a band playing as he lay in bed resting his injury.
"I soon discovered that it was a parade bearing triumphantly the Sam Maguire cup which for the first time had come to South Kerry. The islanders were joined by a large contingent of mainlanders to celebrate the occasion.
Rounding the Cape
"For many, it was their first experience on the water, having crossed over in Paddy Murphy's ferry-boat. The description they gave of it was comparable to Chichester's account of rounding the Cape. However, for them and for me, it all added to the memory of my first All-Ireland final."
Brendan Kennelly wrote a poem inspired by O'Connell rowing home to Valentia on dark and rainy evenings.
He had to reach the island in the winter gale
From Saleen Quay he pushed the little boat
Over the rough stones 'till she came afloat;
You'd swear he could see nothing when he hoisted sail
And cut the dark. Once a grey shape blurred
Above his head while pitch-black water slapped
And tried to climb over the side but dropped
Into the sea thwarted. In time, he heard
The special thunder of the island shore
He hauled the boat in, sheltered near a rock
And smiled to hear the sea's defeated roar;
Breathing as though the air were infinitely sweet,
He watched the mainland where the hard wind struck
The island clay felt good beneath his feet.
Subject of legend
Kennelly has written of O'Connell: "A true legend can only increase in stature because the man, the subject of the legend, has stayed fiercely faithful to his own vision of himself and his chosen mode of expression."
O'Connell (62) has spent most of his life in Valentia, occasionally sacrificing educational and career opportunities over the years to live on the island as a farmer and fisherman. He spent a period working in the United States in the 1980s, as the recession took its toll in Ireland.
He met his wife, Rosaleen O'Reilly, a Cavan-born nurse, when she visited the island to look for a piece of land on which to build a holiday home. They have three children.
In his book, O'Connell notes that he was nearly not born in Valentia. "My father, a fisherman and ship's pilot, had only a few years earlier migrated from smaller Beginish Island nearby. My elder brother and sister were born there. Beginish had been the ancestral home of my father's family for a very long time. I am told that the records show that they were there as far back as the 12th century. My mother was a mainlander and also an O'Connell and said to be of the same stock as the Liberator himself."