One of the first GAA books I ever read and loved was Mick O’Dwyer: The Authorised Biography by Owen McCrohan. It was a fairly sympathetic portrayal, and there certainly wasn’t much in it that would have displeased its subject. But the one thing that I couldn’t get over even as a 10 or 11-year-old was how long Micko stayed on as Kerry manager after the glory years had finished, when he had won eight All-Irelands in his first 12 years in charge.
How could he not have seen the writing on the wall? The more I read about those seasons, from 1987 to 1989, the sadder I became. It was all so pointless, so desperate.
Of course, this was with the benefit of hindsight. As 1989 dawned, Micko might have been in a rather different frame of mind. Twice before with Kerry, he’d had two years of crushing disappointments and setbacks – in 1976 and 1977, when Dublin beat them in consecutive years, and in 1982 and 1983, when last-minute goals robbed them first of their All-Ireland title, and then their Munster title.
The fact is that it’s almost impossible to know when to step away. And the past week has seen the two men’s All-Ireland winning managers committing themselves once more to the grind.
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As far as Limerick are concerned, any thought that John Kiely wouldn’t come back on board would have been seen as a disaster. Even the news that one significant part of his backroom team, the sports psychologist Caroline Currid, would not be around in 2024 is a hammer blow. To lose the main man would have been seen as a cataclysmic mistake.
Last Friday evening, meanwhile, the Dublin county board announced that they had given Dessie Farrell a one-year extension, which means that he’ll be in charge until the end of the 2025 season.
He had a year to go on his most recent contract extension, so last week’s announcement might more realistically be considered a confirmation that he intended to continue for next year, and a vote of confidence after this year’s All-Ireland success.
Neither county board were going to move on from an All-Ireland winning coach, but that doesn’t mean it’s a fait accompli that they would return. Cork’s All-Ireland winning camogie manager Matthew Twomey stepped away after winning it all, and similarly both Kiely and Farrell would have weighed up their options.
For Kiely, the attraction of becoming the first hurling coach in history to win five All-Irelands in a row is inescapable. But the metric was rather different for Dessie. He had to weather quite a bit of criticism over the course of the last two years. Consider what came his way even this spring, as Dublin were put to the pin of their collar to win promotion from Division 2.
He would have been forgiven for rushing to a hasty conclusion if, like the rest of us, he had seen Michael Fitzsimons, James McCarthy and Dean Rock sitting by themselves in the middle of Croke Park after all the rest of their team-mates had gone into the dressing-room after the All-Ireland final.
That Monday morning might have been the perfect day to say, “this has been one of Dublin’s sweetest ever All-Irelands, thank you and goodnight”. But Dean Rock seems to have rowed back somewhat on comments he made in the week after the All-Ireland about his own future. No one’s heard anything from Fitzsimons, McCarthy, or Stephen Cluxton, about what they might do next. Brian Fenton was bullish about the chances of them all coming back for another bite in this paper on Saturday. Why stop now?
Jim Gavin walked away after Dublin won five-in-a-row. I was in the same room as half the Dublin team the night before, at Eoghan O’Gara’s retirement party, and they hadn’t a clue what was coming down the track. Even by the standards of Gavin’s Dublin, that was a shock. But then again, it’s always a shock when a manager steps away at the top.
Brian Cody couldn’t do it. Mick O’Dwyer couldn’t do it. Mickey Harte couldn’t do it. If you were drawing up a shortlist of the greatest coaches or managers in the GAA’s history, the three of them would be pretty close to the top. The unshakeable belief that no one is in a better position than you to gain success for your county is what got you to the top. It would be odd for that belief to desert you, after you’ve already won as much as those three had.
For Kiely, stepping away after five-in-a-row might seem to be perfect timing. He would have achieved something beyond even his wildest dreams. But if Limerick win the All-Ireland in as dominant a fashion as we all expect them to do next year, who in their right mind would walk away from the chance to make it six on the bounce – he built the team, why wouldn’t he want to share the glory?
As for Dessie – when he took over, I speculated with friends as to what would constitute a successful period in charge. Given how dominant Dublin had been under Gavin, would three All-Irelands in a five year spell in charge be considered “par”? We’ll get a chance to find out next year.
