Ó Sé, Páidí (O'Shea, Paudie)

by Terry Clavin

Ó Sé, Páidí (O'Shea, Paudie) (1955–2012), Gaelic footballer and manager, was born on 16 May 1955 in St Ann's Home, Tralee, Co. Kerry, the youngest of three sons of Tommy O'Shea of Ventry, Co. Kerry, and his wife Beatrice (née Lavin), originally of Ballymoate, Co. Sligo. Formally named Patrick, he was known as Paudie. His parents had returned to Ireland from London in 1952 when his father received compensation for injuries sustained in a road accident. They bought a shop at Ard an Bhóthair, Ventry, near Tommy's birthplace. It was a Gaeltacht area so Páidí spoke fluent Irish, gaelicising his name in 1985. As Tommy was too frail for work, Beatrice ran the household. She indulged her youngest child, particularly in his sporting endeavours.

Never interested in studies, Páidí was obsessed with becoming a Kerry Gaelic footballer, like his cousin Tom Long, a star for the Kerry seniors in the 1950s and 1960s. His brothers Tom and Mícheál lined out respectively for the Kerry minor and junior teams. After attending Cill Mhic an Dómhnaigh national school, he spent a year in Dingle CBS before badgering his parents into sending him as a boarder to St Brendan's College, a renowned football nursery in Killarney, Co. Kerry. He was on the school's senior team within two years and began playing senior football, aged fourteen, for his home club, An Ghaeltacht.

Generally selected either in the half-forward line or midfield, he won three Kerry college medals (1971–3) and two Munster college medals (1972–3) with St Brendan's until his constant misbehaviour led to his expulsion in spring 1973. He went to St Michael's College in Listowel, Co. Kerry, where he failed his Leaving Certificate in 1974, while powering its footballers to victory over St Brendan's in the Kerry College final. He bounced between the half-forwards, midfield and the backs during three barren seasons as a Kerry minor (1971–3) and four successful ones with the Kerry under-21 team (1973–6), collecting three under-21 Munster medals (1973, 1975–6) and three under-21 all-Irelands (1973, 1975–6). A regular for West Kerry by 1973, he disregarded club football upon breaking into the Kerry senior team in spring 1974, causing clashes with An Ghaeltacht officials.

Too short at five feet, nine inches for a central position and too wayward a shot for the forwards, he gravitated towards the right half-back slot, which suited his speed and hunger for the breaking ball. He was surprisingly brawny, given his relatively compact frame, combining dauntless physicality with panache, as exemplified by his bludgeoning solo runs, accurate long passes and proficient kicking off both feet. Vulnerable to strong, bustling forwards at the outset of his career, then to pacy ones latterly, he was irrepressible in between, relentlessly suffocating his marker to the point of neglecting broader defensive responsibilities. A relatively clean, albeit hot-headed, player, he eschewed sly fouls and provocations, learning with time to channel his aggression.

Benefiting in terms of strength and fitness from entering the Garda Síochána training college at Templemore, Co. Tipperary, in May 1975, he was stationed from October in Limerick city where his superiors afforded him great leeway. Accordingly, he thrived under the gruelling regime inaugurated in 1975 by the new Kerry trainer Mick O'Dwyer. In superlative form as Kerry won the 1975 all Ireland championship, he made good Kerry's midfield weaknesses by continuously carrying the ball forward, ignoring O'Dwyer's remonstrations. He achieved notoriety (while escaping dismissal) for flooring Cork opponents in the 1975 and 1976 Munster finals. His cropped hairstyle, rampaging football and bristling air distinguished him in a hirsute, notably stylish side, otherwise lacking in aggression.

After Dublin won the 1976 all-Ireland final by targeting Kerry's soft middle, he moved into centrefield for the 1977 championship. Whereas his general play had mitigated his aerial vulnerability in earlier matches, he was comprehensively outjumped in Kerry's loss to Dublin in the all-Ireland semi-final. Reverting to right half-back, he resumed hostilities with his toughest opponent, David Hickey, marking him in the four Kerry–Dublin all-Ireland finals between 1975 and 1979. In tandem with the teams' rivalry, Ó Sé won this personal duel in 1975, lost in 1976, then dominated in 1978–9.

Enjoying himself each winter, he then shed weight by drinking less and training compulsively. He undertook ten-mile plus solo runs along the rugged terrain surrounding Ventry and responded magnificently to the especially punishing workouts reserved by O'Dwyer for the 'heavies'. Although exasperated by Ó Sé's carousing and mischief-making, O'Dwyer used his zeal, bluntness and banter to motivate and unify the Kerry panel. Moreover, he invariably delivered when his team needed it most, despite his neurotically superstitious pre-match behaviour. Preferring home cures and the attentions of bonesetters to those of physios, his aversion to conventional medicine yielded a largely injury-free career.

He struggled for most of the 1979 campaign before being harshly sent off in that year's all-Ireland final, undone by an exaggerated reputation for unsportsmanlike conduct, which also cost him several all-star awards. Having lost form because his superiors had tired of indulging his work-shy attitude, he left the Garda Síochána in autumn 1979 and became a publican, leasing Kruger Kavanagh's pub in Dunquin, Co. Kerry. This brought him into contact with the Fianna Fáil leader and taoiseach, Charles Haughey (qv), who owned the nearby island of Inishvickallane. They formed an enduring, mutually advantageous friendship.

Peaking as Kerry amassed four all Irelands in succession (1978–81), he was back to his best in 1980, diving on a Roscommon forward's boot in the all-Ireland final to prevent what would have been a decisive goal. In the 1981 decider Offaly's tactic of having his direct opponent Aidan O'Halloran drop deep allowed Ó Sé to make a match-winning contribution to Kerry's attack. He was one of the few Kerry players to hold their nerve towards the end of the 1982 final, sealing a fine performance with a point that put his team on the cusp of a historic five-in-a-row, only for Offaly to snatch victory.

Kerry's defeat in the 1983 Munster final showed that he was no longer fast enough for the half-back line. Going grudgingly into the right corner, his assumption of a purely defensive role helped Kerry win three consecutive all Irelands from 1984. He performed soundly rather than memorably, the exception being his confrontation with the burly Dublin cornerforward, Joe McNally, who sent him sprawling before the 1984 all-Ireland final began, but was ultimately broken by Ó Sé's ferocious tackling. Ó Sé captained Kerry to the 1985 all-Ireland title and acted as player coach for the West Kerry side that won successive county championships in 1984–5.

He had two daughters and a son with his wife Maire Fahy, a teacher from Ballyferriter, Co. Kerry. The year after they married in 1984, he opened his own pub at Ard an Bhóthair where the scenic beach nearby ensured a respectable trade under his fitfully-engaged management. A knowledgeable raconteur behind the bluff, ribald exterior, he had a flair for self-promotion and assiduously charmed journalists, politicians and entertainers, gaining renown as a colourful rogue. His intense garrulousness was also the mark of a driven, thin-skinned football-obsessive, prone to insomnia and depression.

The effects of age and declining training standards became clear in 1986, as he struggled for fitness, surviving off his nous and reputation. Cork exposed his diminishing pace in the drawn 1987 Munster final, though he rallied in the second half and held his own during an epoch-ending defeat for Kerry in the replay. Upon being dropped for the 1988 Munster final, he tried to undermine O'Dwyer, but admitted several years later that the decision was justified, which restored their friendship. An attempted comeback unravelled in May 1989 with a reckless tackle in a club match that left himself and his victim nursing serious head injuries. He retired soon after.

Playing 53 uninterrupted championship matches and 84 league matches for Kerry during 1974–88, he accumulated a joint record 8 all-Ireland medals (1975, 1977–81, 1984–6), 11 Munster medals (1975–82, 1984–6), 4 National League medals (1974, 1977, 1982, 1984) and 5 all-star awards (1981–5), the last 3 all-stars as a cornerback. In 10 all-Ireland finals, he conceded a goal and a point to a direct opponent. He received 4 Railway Cup medals (1976, 1978, 1981–2) with Munster.

Once retired he set about becoming the Kerry manager but was rebuffed in 1989 and 1992 as many within the county executive saw him as a loose cannon. He wooed club delegates and the media, and coached West Kerry (1990–1, 1993–4), UCC (1990–2) and the Kerry under-21s (1992–5), winning a county title with West Kerry (1990) and two Munster titles (1993, 1995) and an all-Ireland (1995) with the Kerry under-21s. As a pundit for Radio na Gaeltachta and the Irish Independent, he controversially criticised former Kerry teammates Mickey 'Ned' O'Sullivan and Denis 'Ogie' Moran during their periods managing Kerry. Kerry GAA was highly political with Ó Sé, who took soundings from Haughey and other national politicians, being particularly so.

When the position he coveted fell vacant in autumn 1995, he brokered a compromise whereby he became the trainer and overall manager while the other main contender, Séamus MacGearailt, was made coach. Their uneasy yet effective partnership lasted two years. An inspirational, if somewhat inarticulate, orator, he was a good judge of players and breathed passion, self-belief and humour into a demoralised Kerry setup, astutely tailoring his motivational ploys for individual personalities. His coaching focused on the defenders, making them tough, tight and disciplined. He preached simplicity, enjoining his players to hold their positions, commit fouls beyond scoring range and deliver fast, intelligent ball. Miming the on-field action, he was a fiery touchline presence, his antics blinding him to tactical nuances.

In 1996 he led Kerry to a first Munster title in five years, sparking lusty, well-publicised celebrations by him and his players, which drew criticisms when they were well beaten in the all-Ireland semi-final. A chastened Ó Sé intensified and modernised the training, treated his players less familiarly and curtailed media interactions, serving as an uncommunicative buffer between the team and journalists. He also stopped drinking while the players were in full training. The next year he broke a self-reinforcing cycle of failure by endowing an undistinguished side with the mental and physical toughness required to win Kerry's first all-Ireland since 1986.

His selectors immediately quit, partly due to their combustible relations with him. Unlike previously, he was permitted to choose their replacements who he disregarded during a disappointing period (1998–9) that highlighted his tactical limitations. Club delegates then elected selectors more capable of challenging him. Likewise, from late 1998 he delegated the training to his former Kerry teammate, John O'Keeffe. As coaching became too scientific for him, he compensated for a growing dependence on his backroom team by scheming disruptively against those seen as threatening his position.

Although Kerry won the 2000 all-Ireland playing exciting football, their naivety had obliged them to rely on luck while a humiliating defeat in the 2001 all Ireland semi-final heightened complaints that Ó Sé was squandering a wealth of underage talent. His use of virtuoso forward Maurice Fitzgerald as a substitute worked well, but was unpopular, being wrongly attributed to jealousy on Ó Sé's part. Disgruntled supporters further accused him of making biased selections, particularly once the Kerry team's sizeable An Ghaeltacht contingent came to include his three nephews Darragh, Tomás and Marc Ó Sé; it mattered little that all three siblings enjoyed stellar inter-county careers.

The trauma of his brother Mícheál's sudden death closely followed by Kerry's defeat in the 2002 Munster final moved him to blood youngsters, urge expressive football and heed the players' complaints that O'Keeffe was overtraining them. With Ó Sé at his most rousing, Kerry gave a series of dazzling displays before losing the 2002 all-Ireland final from a seemingly unassailable position. He had failed to counter Armagh's half-time adjustments and the ensuing recriminations culminated in him giving a newspaper interview that provoked uproar, partly for his criticisms of O'Keeffe, mainly for his reference to Kerry supporters being 'the roughest type of fucking animal' (Sunday Independent, 5 January 2003). It was an astonishing lapse after years of heroic self-repression around journalists.

The final blow occurred when Kerry were overwhelmed in the 2003 all Ireland semi-final by Tyrone's superior running, physicality and coordination. Upholding a purist brand of man-to-man football rendered obsolete by swarming configurations that emphasised fitness over skill, he strove delusively to weather this defeat, eventually being ousted acrimoniously. He was considered a failure, despite delivering six Munster titles (1996–8, 2000–1, 2003), two all-Ireland titles (1997, 2000) and one national league (1997).

He immediately became manager of a promising Westmeath side, and as such more freely indulged his love of the media limelight. Although the hullabaloo accompanying this appointment evaporated amid indifferent league form and his apparent lack of commitment, his shrewdly (and expensively) assembled backroom team had the players in peak condition for the 2004 championship. By then fully involved, he uproariously banished a defeatist mindset, surpassing all expectations by inspiring a dogged, well-organised Westmeath team to its first Leinster title. His impassioned methods were subject to diminishing returns and he lost interest once much of the panel dropped out for the next season. He departed following Westmeath's limp exit from the 2005 championship.

Apart from a disastrous stint managing Clare in 2007 and an indifferent one managing West Kerry in 2010, he accepted that football had moved beyond him, but suffered from the attendant void, drinking heavily at times. He wrote a GAA column for the Sunday Independent and attended to his long-neglected pub and to the Páidí Ó Sé football tournament, which he inaugurated in 1989 and was held in Ventry every February, latterly drawing over 1,000 players from Ireland, the USA and Europe. His Fianna Fáil activism delivered directorships of Bord Fáilte (2002–10) and Bord Iasca Mhara (2010–12).

He died suddenly in his home in Ard An Bhóthair from a heart attack on 15 December 2012. He was buried in the local graveyard. The probate of his estate suggested he left net debts of €286,641, which his family asserted ignored the rezoned value of certain properties. A ghost-written 2001 autobiography captured his elemental mix of intensity and humour. Páidí Ó Sé's statue was unveiled near his pub in 2015.