IN THE end it wasn’t at all surprising that Mick O’Dwyer was again overlooked for the position as Ireland manager for the International Rules series, despite calls in some quarters that he was the most deserving and qualified man for job.
According to his current selector in Wicklow, Kevin O’Brien – who was named yesterday as a selector for the Ireland team – no one will be less surprised by all this than O’Dwyer himself.
“It’ll be no shock to him, because Micko knows everything,” said O’Brien. “I know he’d be well able for it. But that’s not for me to say really.
“I’m just delighted to be working with him, to have him in Wicklow. He is doing a massive job with us at the minute. He’s certainly the best thing that has happened Wicklow in my career.
“It’s not just the work he does with players and at training, but it’s the work behind the scenes, going to the schools and going to dinner dances and here and there and I don’t think there’s anyone else who would have the energy to do that.”
O’Brien said he did have O’Dwyer’s blessing to work with the Ireland team: “I put it to him, and he knows my commitment to him and to Wicklow.
“He’s like a father, you go through him. If he had said ‘no’ and that he hadn’t time to let me go I’d have said fine, but he was only positive and he wished me the best of luck. I came away from him and I took the job the next day and I was delighted.”
Like Ireland manager Anthony Tohill, O’Brien made it clear what an honour it was for him to be part of the backroom team – having played himself for Ireland as far back as 1990.
“It reminds me of the time I was selected to go to Australia when I was brought into training in 1990. I said I’d give it a right go and I trained every night with the help of a few lads from Baltinglass. To make the panel was fantastic and to make the team was an extra bonus.
“I remember standing beside the ‘Bomber’ (Eoin Liston) in Melbourne and the hairs standing on my arm as the national anthem was playing.
“It was funny out there at the time it was just after the World Cup. It was like a mini World Cup with all the Irish supporters, it certainly changed me as a player.”
