Rlf.......... Louth didnt beat kildare in 1994.

Ye beat us in '95 and micko wasnt in charge, dermot earley snr was........

Just wana clear that up.

For me its micko. The mans an absolute legend

But infairness everyone has different views....

kildboy (Kildare) - Posts: 1 - 06/04/2009 15:45:46    249625

Kevin hefferan ,Following a great inter-county career with Dublin, he became manager of the senior inter-county team in late 1973. The era was dominated by the intense rivalry between Dublin and Kerry. In his first championship season in charge he guided 'the Dubs' to their first Leinster and All-Ireland titles since 1963. Following the completion of the championship Heffernan became the only non-player to be nominated Texaco Hurler of the Year. In 1975 Dublin captured a second consecutive Leinster title, however, a young Kerry team caught Heffernan's teams in a complacent mood in the subsequent All-Ireland final. Dublin bounced back the following year to win the National League as well as a third Leinster title in-a-row before going on to defeat Kerry in the All-Ireland final.

Following this victory Heffernan unexpectedly resigned as manger of Dublin, being replaced by Tony Hanahoe who acted as player-captain-manager. Heffernan returned as manager in 1979 but, after claiming a sixth consecutive Leinster title, lost out to Kerry in the All-Ireland final. Much of the Dublin team fell by the wayside after 1980 but Heffernan built a new team centred around midfield stalwart Brian Mullins and, in another memorable match remembered mainly for its unsporting conduct, a twelve-man Dublin team to victory over a fourteen-man Galway in the All-Ireland Final of 1983. Played in atrocious conditions the referee sent off four players, three of which were from Dublin, and their win saw the

tomaoo7 (Dublin) - Posts: 5896 - 06/04/2009 15:50:03    249636

Dublin drew with a kildre team the first roud which kildare should have won,there was only 18000 there as it was the day Ireland played italy in boston ,and the hill moved to newyork for the world cup,we beat kildare easily in the replay

tomaoo7 (Dublin) - Posts: 5896 - 06/04/2009 15:55:30    249648

Ah come on RLF, competitive environment? Whats so much more competitive about getting a second chance if you lose? How many teams have won the all ireland in the last 6 years? If you go by the amount of different semi-finalists in that era then that standard was just as competitive, its just that kerry and dublin were stronger... (Sounds familiar)
Micko has record hauls of all irelands with two different generations of players, and also applied his abilities to laois, wicklow and kildare with noticeable success, boylan and harte havent even done all that if you put their successes together.

Louth beating kildare doesnt make any difference in the grand scheme of things, tyrone lost to down last year, mayo beat them in 0, they lost to derry, scraped past louth in a replay (funny you forgot that one) and went out to none other than laois in 06. All this with the best group of players that tyrone have had? Harte must be nearly getting the sack going by ur playbook

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 06/04/2009 16:00:07    249650

In my Opinion, and I cant go any further back.

1 O'Dwyer is top for me. Won 8 All irelands in 12 years with Kerry as Manager. Brought Kildare to their first All Ireland final in 70 years in 98. Brought Laois to their first Leinster title in 60 years. Of course he never managed to win U21's or Colleges or Minors because he went into management the year after he retired as a player. As a player alone he won 4 All Irelands. He did also manage Waterville to each of their 3 county final appearances.
2 Boylan - Immense. As an outsider looking in you could only admire him. His attitude was fantastic and to keep so many teams so competitive for so long is nothing short of a miracle. over 22 years in charge he brought 3 different Meath teams to All Ireland Success, winning 4 All ireland Medals. Meath gave as good as they got and more in massive saga's against both Cork and Dublin.
3 Heffernan - Won 3 All irelands with Dublin with 2 completely different teams. Would have won 4 if he stayed on in 77 longer as his team went on to win the All Ireland easily. Stylish and tough.
4 Harte - Another man with 3 All irelands. Maybe the only man to have managed Colleges, Minor, U21 and Senior teams to All Ireland glory. Cool calm and collected. Shrewd as you like and if Tyrone win 1 or 2 more could be up there challenging micko as the greatest.

All four of them have a couple of things in common. All are totally dedicated, 100% winners, and all very very nice gentlemen that give a lot more than they take.

thykingdomcome (Kerry) - Posts: 1206 - 06/04/2009 16:03:43    249655

Sean Boylan. End of!

Honourable mention to Mickey, Micko, Heffo et al but IMO Sean is the best

updaroyal (Meath) - Posts: 1132 - 06/04/2009 16:40:25    249728

maybe these guys backroom men deserve a little credit too - i know in Tyrone Tony Donnelly is highly respected by the players and no doubt it is the case elsewhere.

bocerty (Tyrone) - Posts: 539 - 06/04/2009 16:48:43    249746

Simple

1 Micko
2 Heffo

No one else comes near. In time Mickey Harte may.

lochgarmanabu (Wexford) - Posts: 1022 - 06/04/2009 18:18:38    249952

o"dwyer is the best ever and anyone who does not think so should get their history books out

hipster (Dublin) - Posts: 2509 - 06/04/2009 19:17:40    250002

micko for me.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 06/04/2009 19:51:32    250034

pillar

finglas full ba (None) - Posts: 636 - 06/04/2009 20:13:22    250069

ha patrique, i seem to be the only one who has picked up on you slipping liam bradley in there,

Derry_ledd (Derry) - Posts: 2093 - 06/04/2009 21:33:54    250164

has to be pillar! everyone else is miles behind

superdub (Dublin) - Posts: 392 - 06/04/2009 23:23:15    250289

theres bias all over these posts so im gona follow suit...as a proud dub it has to be acknowledged micko's contribution to kerry and that great team that nearly achieved immortality, along with what he did in leinster. as well as that sean boylan is a real class act and a gentleman too.but for me its heffo,most people outside dublin will cringe when i say this but the gaa needs dublin strong and competing every year,my point is only proved when we see the delight that the culchies get from beating us every year...when heffo took over the gaa was on its knees in the capital, beaten every year in the first round in leinster and with interest falling rapidly away...heffo came in and shook it up, put dublin on the map and instilled pride back into the jersey...we came from nowhere to win the all ireland in beating galway and no one will forget that magical day in croker when two titans went head to head in possibly the greatest game ever...the effects of the seventies are still reverbating through dublin...the gaa is in a healthy state and were winning all irelands again (although the elusive sam escapes us since 95)...i just think theres no way we in dublin could claim any sort of identity without the gaa but it has to be acknowledged that it nearly happened, it nearly vanished....and for me heffo was the man that saved it and he's my greatest manager off all time...as for mr harte i wouldnt do him the injustice of rating him before he is finished but its obvious he will rank highly....although to be honest mr cody in hurling could possible outrank everyone put together the way things are going on the banks of the river nore.....

seany16 (Dublin) - Posts: 1663 - 07/04/2009 00:02:48    250331

thykingdomcome County: Kerry Posts: 325 249133 Real Louth fan County: Louth Posts: 1196 Overall though for me it's Mickey Harte as he has won his 3 All-Irelands more closely together in time (indicating consistency) and against a much more competitive environment than O' Dwyer. What a rediculous argument !! If that is your argument you went with the wrong manager. Lads, can you not recognise a wind up? He then later says Mickey Harte won more games in one year that Micko did with Kerry. And you lot rise to this? It's not even good wind up. Now you could have simply pointed out that it was an obvious wind up when the word consistency appeared, with the figure of 3 all Irelands in 6 years. Micko once won 4 in 4 years, and 3 in 3 years. Or you could have said that in six seasons 2003-08 Tyrone LOST 8 (EIGHT) championship matches. In 9 years 1978-86 Kerry lost 2 (TWO) both to last gasp goals actually. Boylan was another great manager, but you can be a great manager without trophies, you have to look at resources. Antrim are unbeaten in the league, ANTRIM, and I know we haven't played Waterford, but that is some achievement by the manager. So as always, put things in perspective. McHugh managed Cavan for one year, they won their only Ulster title in 40 years that year. That's great management.

patrique (Antrim) - Posts: 13709 - 07/04/2009 01:25:01    250388

If Wicklow/Kildare/Laois had Micky Harte/Boylan in charge would either county have achieved more that they have? If you believe the answer is no, then that would imply that Micko is the best manager. I am not offering an opinion just a means of settling the argument. Wicklow/Kildare/Laois contributions would be welcome.

John Boss (Tyrone) - Posts: 865 - 07/04/2009 08:22:36    250411

patrique County: Antrim Posts: 2779 So as always, put things in perspective. McHugh managed Cavan for one year, they won their only Ulster title in 40 years that year. That's great management. --------------- I don't accept that McHugh was a great manager - potentially perhaps, but he hasn't done enough to be considered among the top managers the game has seen. Firstly, he wasn't in Cavan for 1 year, I'm pretty sure that he was there for 3. And yes, he won an Ulster title, but I don't think that elevates him into the echelon of Heffo, O'Dwyer, Harte, Kernan, Boylan and others. What McHugh did was get a young side exceptionally fit, fit enough to take advantage of some aging Ulster sides, most of which were on the slide after the heights of the early 90s. The Derry side they beat in the final had been hammered by Tyrone 12 months early, and were 4 years past their all-ireland win. Cavan were, in turn, well beaten by a very weak kerry side in the all-ireland semi final. That Cavan faded away quickly after that can be attributed as much to the retirements of Stephen King and Damien O'Reilly, plus injuries to Dermot McCabe, as it can to McHugh leaving. Granted McHugh also won a sigerson with Sligo, but to rate him as one of the greatest on the basis of these acheivements is naive. My own feeling on McHugh is that he is a good man to have with a crowd of young lads, but I don't know that he would have the personality to get the best out of a top inter-county side. Another man you often cite as a great is John Maughan. Well, in Tyrone we have our own John Maughan in the guise of Art McRory - a man who always has his teams fit and motivated, but lacks the tactical awareness to win the biggest prize. If Art was still managing Tyrone, we would still be waiting for our first Sam Maguire. Others like this include Mickey Moran and Paul Caffrey. For me, the greats are people like Heffernan, O'Mahony and Pete McGrath, who awoke sleeping giants and won multiple all-irelands. Harte, McGee and Boylan who took unfashionable counties to the top table. Kernan, although more for his work with Crossmaglen, as I always thought the 2 Brians were just as important to Armagh's success as Kernan was. Jack O'Connor, for digging Kerry out of the mess that Paudi left them in. And, of course O'Dwyer, as 8 all-irelands are hard to argue with.

Thomas Clarke (Tyrone) - Posts: 1002 - 07/04/2009 11:01:32    250543

Joe Kernan is the most influential. No-one else even comes close.

trileacman (Tyrone) - Posts: 759 - 07/04/2009 12:29:04    250664

Sean Boylan

men_of_49 (Meath) - Posts: 2008 - 07/04/2009 12:48:22    250689

Joe Kernan as most influential????

You must be joking buddy....ahead of micko, mickey, Sean Boylan and heffo!!!

Obviously micko for me but mickey harte has been the best of this generation.

Keane16 (Kerry) - Posts: 306 - 07/04/2009 12:53:28    250697