Legendary Kerry footballer and manager Mick O’Dwyer dies aged 88

Mick O’Dwyer, one of Gaelic football’s greatest icons, has died at the age of 88.

The eight-time All-Ireland senior football-winning manager had been suffering from illness in recent years.

Born in June 1936, O’Dwyer made his first appearance for Kerry as a minor in 1954.

He graduated to junior level a couple of years later before making his senior debut in 1957.

Between then and his final senior game for his county in 1972, O’Dwyer played 48 senior championship games, although he stepped away from the inter-county game in 1966 and ’67.

He claimed four All-Ireland medals (1959, ’62, ’69 and '70) in nine final appearances, was voted footballer of the year in ’69 and was a victor in 12 of 13 Munster senior finals.

He lined out in 93 league games for The Kingdom, winning seven Division 1 honours.

O’Dwyer filled several roles for Kerry, moving from wing-back in his early years to corner-forward towards the end of his inter-county career.

With Waterville, O’Dwyer claimed eight South Kerry championships and three county championships with South Kerry.

His managerial acumen was evidenced in three consecutive U21 All-Irelands with Kerry between 1975 and ’77, losing the ’78 decider to Roscommon.

O’Dwyer’s glorious 15-season career as Kerry senior manager, in which he experienced 10 All-Ireland finals, began in 1975, and the Sam Maguire Cup was forthcoming that September when they defeated Dublin by seven points.

That treasured piece of silverware returned to The Kingdom seven more times in O’Dwyer’s reign, including four consecutive years between 1978 and ’81, the five-in-a-row famously stopped by Offaly and Seamus Darby’s goal in the ’82 game, a score which O’Dwyer admitted haunted him for several years.

Kerry returned to claim