Páidí O'Sé used to call it "getting arranged for Dwyer". It was a gruesome process well-known to any Kerry footballer who played under Micko. They would, in local parlance, "winter well", and would then spend January in purgatorial runs to better prepare for the fresh hell that Micko had in store for them upon return to training: long, arduous and hostile laps of the football field. These would follow ferocious matches officiated and interrupted by O'Dwyer himself.
While Micko's training methods seem superannuated in these days of tactical periodisation, some things remain the same. Kerry are still capable of producing regal talents like David Clifford, who finished his minor career with just the 4-4 in the All-Ireland final against Derry. If he ignores the overtures of the AFL, Clifford will have a second choice to make: should he play with Jack O'Connor's under-20s, or be parachuted into the senior squad immediately?
This topic is explored by Tomás O'Sé in his Irish Independent column today in reference to Clifford and a number of his teammates. But the main takeaway from O'Sé's column is that Micko remains Micko:
One big talking point in Kerry after the Mayo defeat was the fact that young Sean O'Shea didn't get a run. He's been setting the club scene on fire and recently gave All-Ireland champions Dr Crokes a torrid time.
So Eamonn Fitz will know there;s an appetite to get these young fellas in now. I met Mick O'Dwyer on Sunday and he was raving about Clifford.
Micko's view was that all these young bucks should be brought into the senior set-up immediately and, as he put it, "train the shit out of them". I was laughing as he said that.
The full column is in today's Indo.
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