Mick O'Dwyer, one of Gaelic football's greatest icons, has died aged 88.
The eight-time All-Ireland senior football champion has suffered from a variety of ailments in recent years.
O'Dwyer was born in June 1936 and first played for Kerry as a teenager in 1954.
A few years later he reached the junior level, and in 1957 he made his debut at the senior level.
From then until his last game for the county in 1972, O'Dwyer made 48 senior league appearances, although he did not feature in inter-county games in 1966 and 1967.
He won four All-Ireland medals (1959, 1962, 1969 and 1970) in nine finals, was voted Footballer of the Year in 1969 and won 12 of 13 Munster Senior Championship finals.
He made 93 league appearances for the Kingdom, winning seven Division 1 titles.
O'Dwyer has played in a number of roles for Kerry, starting at full-back early in his career and moving to forward towards the end of his time with the county side.
With Waterville, O'Dwyer won eight South Kerry Championship titles and three South Kerry County Championship titles.
His management skills were on display in three successive U21 tournaments with Kerry from 1975 to 1977, where he lost the 1978 decider to Roscommon.
O'Dwyer's magnificent 15-season career as Kerry manager, during which he was involved in 10 All-Ireland finals, began in 1975 and in September of that year the Sam Maguire Cup was won by Dublin by seven points.
The prized trophy returned to the Kingdome a further seven times during O'Dwyer's tenure, including four years in a row from 1978 to 1981, with Offaly and Seamus Darby scoring five in a row in the 1982 game, a scoreline O'Dwyer admitted haunted him for years.
Kerry returned to win three in a row from 1984 to 1986, and O'Dwyer's other achievements as manager included 11 wins over Munster and three Division 1 titles, as well as six Railway Cup titles under Munster.
During his second term as Kildare boss, O'Dwyer led the county to a first Leinster Senior Division title in 42 years in 1998. This was followed by an All-Ireland semi-final victory over his home county before they were beaten by Galway in the final.
The next to experience the Midas touch from the Waterville man was Laois, who brought them provincial glory in 2003, the county's first since 1946. The following year they reached the Leinster final again, where they lost to Westmeath's Páidí Ó Sé.
O'Dwyer is predeceased by his first wife, Mary Carmel, who died in 2012, and his son Michael (Hawley), who died aged 22. He is survived by his wife Geraldine and sons John, Robbie and Carl. O'Dwyer married Tyrone-born Geraldine in January 2023.
In his condolences, Prime Minister Micheál Martin said: “Miko lived and breathed Gaelic football. He embodied all that is best about the game – dedication, ambition, positivity and community.”
“His sporting legacy is second to none. He will forever remain one of Kerry's iconic players, winning four All-Ireland senior medals in 1959, 1962, 1969 and 1970.
He added: “Despite his many sporting achievements, Miko remained humble. In the RTÉ documentary
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