By Cian O’Connell

A dozen years later Dara Ó hAnnaidh sits down in Carolina delighted to discuss one of Wicklow's greatest hours.

Taking the prized Kildare scalp at Croke Park was an historic achievement gleaning a first Leinster Championship win at the Jones Road venue.

Mick O’Dwyer had worked on Wicklow bodies and minds, stitching a gritty team together, and the graft was reflected at GAA headquarters.

It was a special era in the Wicklow GAA story with the Ó hAnnaidh h brothers all involved at various stages.

“Absolutely, I had two brothers that also played with Wicklow, Breandán and Oisín,” Ó hAnnaidh recalls.

“Breandán was actually living in France at the time. The year before he joined late on and was flying back from France at the weekends to play games. He came back in May 2007 or so and the following year he was involved too. It was great to have Breandán there that day beside me for 2007 and 2008.”

Encouraging signs had been available in the early part of O’Dwyer’s Wicklow adventure too. “We won the Tommy Murphy Cup in 2007, Breandán was on the field, it was brilliant,” Ó hAnnaidh adds.

“I feel very lucky that I was able to play for those few years when Micko was around. He was there for five years, I was there for four of them, I moved to America in his last year.

“They were four or five of the best years Wicklow GAA ever had. So I feel very lucky to have played under him, he was a brilliant manager in my opinion.”

When O’Dwyer was appointed Ó hAnnaidh was travelling the world, but came back briskly to report for training. Something was about to stir.

“I was in Fiji, I remember reading it on a website thinking I definitely want to make that panel,” Ó hAnnaidh recalls.

“I had been playing for Wicklow, but I didn't want to not make the panel when he was the manager. I knew good things would come. I came home a month early from my travels and it was a brilliant few years.

“Micko was the best manager I ever had. He was just an amazing man manager I thought. He made everybody feel they were the best player on the field and absolutely got the most out of our players.”

That was evident when Kildare were defeated in the Leinster Championship. “We had great players back then,” Ó hAnnaidh says.

“That year or a year later Leighton Glynn was the best player for Ireland in the International Rules. We were very lucky that we had Micko at that time. Also we had a good sprinkling of really top class players like Leighton Glynn, in particular.

“He had a great backroom too like Kevin O'Brien, who was our only All Star, he was involved. He had Jimmy Whittle, four or five other guys Gerry Farrell, Philip McGillicuddy. Really good guys who were respected within Wicklow.”

Ultimately they assisted in attracting the most able footballers in the county to wear the Wicklow jersey.

“He got almost all the best players in Wicklow willing to play which had been a problem in the past. Pretty much he had most of the best players willing to play,” Ó hAnnaidh stresses.

Even now just over a decade later Ó hAnnaidh acknowledges that he came close to missing the Kildare contest due to injury.

“I got an infection in my foot that had to be cut out a month beforehand,” Ó hAnnaidh reveals. “I was very lucky to be able to play that day, I had to wear special padding in my boot. I remember our team doctor cut up this padding and put it inside my boot. I was on crutches for a month, but I managed to play that day and was delighted.

“I remember nobody gave us a chance, we were six to one that day, and I'm not even a betting man. We were very confident we were going to win and even considering our terrible record in Croke Park, that was our first Championship win there which isn't a great statistic.

“We didn't play in Croke Park maybe until five or 10 years before then. For me being captain it was a very special day. To be the captain for our first ever Championship win in Croke Park it was brilliant.

“Kildare were only going okay, they had McGeeney as their manager. We had a good run the year before, we had won the Tommy Murphy Cup and we had three games with Louth.

“At that stage we were becoming a somewhat mature team. It wasn't our first year and the following year we had a great run in the Championship in the qualifiers getting to the last 12. Funnily enough we lost to Kildare and I remember we missed a penalty in the last few minutes.

“We dominated the game, I haven't watched the game since, we led from start to finish. I remember looking at the clock and we were five points up, we were comfortable winners.

“Leighton Glynn was at centre forward, as far as I remember he was really young and fast. I think every one of our players went well, they didn't play well, maybe we stopped them.

Even though Wicklow secured victory Ó hAnnaidh now reckons a significant opportunity was missed against Laois in the next round. “It was a great victory, we should have gone on to beat Laois three weeks later,” Ó hAinnaidh remarks.

“We missed a penalty that day too. We had a terrible first half, we were behind the whole game, but almost came back to win it. We played terribly and still almost won.”

It was a memorable time for Wicklow. Crowds were rising, that vital sporting ingredient momentum had been generated too. A nice blend of established and emerging talent existed in the Wicklow panel.

“There was, the core of the team was around my age group, I was 26 or 27 at the time,” Ó hAnnaidh says.

“We had a sprinkling of younger and older players that were really good. Seanie Furlong and Paul Earls were two of the younger lads, Seanie is still playing, Seanie has an unbelievable kick of the ball.”

O’Dwyer had the guile to get Wicklow believing that they belonged in elite company. “We had a very consistent team, maybe I'm saying that because I was on the team,” Ó hAnnaidh comments.

“I thought it was nice and I don't want to criticise previous managers, but there was so much chopping and changing. Micko picked his starting 15 or 18 guys and stuck with them.

“Maybe it wasn't great if you were number 23 or 24, but we got into a better groove because he usually used 18 players in a game. He almost always had the same starting team starting every game.

“While it might have been unpopular with some of the subs I felt it helped us as a team because we got very used to playing with each other as a team and got into a groove. I personally think that helped and he didn't fix things if they weren't broken. As the years went on we got stronger and stronger.

“We had a great run in the qualifiers in 2009, arguably our best year even though we didn't do great in the Leinster Championship. Micko was so good at getting the best out of his players, a really good man manager.”

On that mid May afternoon in 2008 Wicklow accomplished a mission, claiming a Championship triumph at Croke Park. A few years later Ó hAnnaidh moved to the United States and has been a central figure in the continued development of Gaelic Games in North Carolina.

The GAA was never far from his thoughts and being part of the Wicklow Mick O’Dwyer tale still brings joy and satisfaction.