Anthony Daly and Ryan O’Dwyer couldn’t but get on well.
Two all-in-or-nothing characters, half-hardheartedness isn’t in either of their psyches.
The pair first crossed paths in 2011.
Before that, O’Dwyer was playing with Tipperary. A Cashel man, the Dublin based secondary school teacher was a Tipperary senior hurler and footballer when he decided he just couldn’t keep up all the travelling home for training and for matches.
And so he got a transfer from Cashel King Cormacs to Kilmacud Crokes. Daly – who had been at the helm in Dublin for three years at that stage brought Ryano straight in.
For the next few years, the aggressive, combative centre forward would become the life and soul of Dublin hurling. As Dublin made a name for themselves as a top hurling county, the red helmeted wrecking ball was in the thick of it. He scored three points on the day Dalo’s men got the job done to end a 52 year famine for a Bob O’Keeffe.
As a player, O’Dwyer brings the same type of courage, heart and bravery to the pitch that defined Anthony Daly’s life as a Clare hurler. Nowadays, Daly keeps his competitive juices flowing as the Kilmacud Crokes manager, and on the back of their famous win over Cuala at the weekend, O’Dwyer assured The GAA Hour that Dalo is still as passionate as ever, in his coaching, his training but most of all in his pre-match speeches.
“I’ve said it five, six years ago and I’m still saying it now. I don’t know how intelligent he was in secondary school but I will say one thing, he’s a poet. He’s such a man to give a speech, he’s such an author, in everything he says, he’s a poet.”
He doesn’t say things for the sake of saying them. It’s the way he thinks about things, it’s all natural.
“Some speeches, you say lads are using these usual lines. He doesn’t, you can see the fire in his eyes too, he’s so passionate about it. He says himself that Kilmacud isn’t is club, but he feels such a part of it…He has that aura about him, he walks into a room and he commands attention without even saying anything,” said O’Dwyer.
The hair was standing on Kilmacud necks leaving the dressing room on Sunday but even RTÉ viewers feel themselves getting pumped up when the Clare man comes to glorious life.
“He throws in the odd curse word now and again, you need that as well but he really is a poet. I’ve said this before, you might never train, you might never go training but if you show up for a county final, or an All-Ireland final, you will be all guns blazing because he will instill that in you, he will give you the belief that you can do it no matter what. He’ll make you believe that you can do it.”
Kilmacud did it on Sunday with Ryan O’Dwyer at centre back. Dalo has re-positioned him there and now the pair are looking forward to a county final date.
One thing O’Dwyer has noticed about the Clarecastle native is that he’s a tad more relaexed this time around. Relaxed when he wants to be and passionate when he needs to be. Sounds like the perfect managerial mix.
“His philosophy is still the same. You man up, and it’s your own responsibility. But I think the difference at club level is that he seems a lot more relaxed. Maybe that’s just the group he’s involved with, maybe there’s less pressure involved, maybe you’re not being scrutinised on every discussion board on the internet or whatever but I definitely think he has a more relaxed feeling with us.
“I definitely feel that rubs off on us, the lads just feel a bit of freedom…If you see the manager and he’s relaxed, it instills a bit of belief that you can do it and there’s no panic or no worry about it.”
Oh to be a fly on the wall during an Anthony Daly speech.
You can listen to this week’s podcast right here.
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