Out of the frying pan into the
fire for Micko
Mick O’Dwyer’s capacity to surprise the GAA public reached
new heights this week as the greatest manager in the history of the game
agreed to take charge of Wicklow.
While most 70-year-olds would be enjoying their retirement the amiable
Kerry legend will be pondering how to transform the fortunes of the Wicklow
football team, an outfit without a Leinster championship win in three
years.
If the Waterville magician can turn the Garden County into a genuine footballing
force in the coming years it will go down as the greatest achievement
in a managerial career which yielded eight All-Ireland titles with Kerry
and Provincial titles with Kildare and Laois.
Having been favourite for no less than five different managerial posts
since resigning from the Laois hotseat at the end of last season O’Dwyer
wasn’t short of offers making it all the more surprising that the
Waterville native has agreed to try his luck with Wicklow.
Micko has shown an uncanny knack of agreeing to manage teams just as they
discover a rich seem of new footballing talent but its hard to see any
grounds for optimism in Wicklow football.
The highlight of 2006 for the Garden County men was losing narrowly to
Kildare in the Leinster Championship — they made little impact in
the qualifiers or the Murphy Cup.
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