In conversation with...Mick O'Grady

Kildare's former captain, Mick O’Grady, decided to step away from intercounty football last week. The Celbridge man made 138 appearances in all competitions in the Lilywhite jersey over a period which stretched from 2013 and concluded with victory in the Tailteann Cup in Croke Park on 12 July this year. Mick sat down with the Kildare Nationalist this week to reflect on an outstanding intercounty career.

Pat Costello: So, Mick, when did you make your decision to step away from into county football?

Mick O’Grady: I made a final call on it last week, Pat. It was probably in the back of my mind during the Club Championship and even towards the tail end of last year. I kind of knew there weren’t too many more years left playing at that level. During the Club Championship I put it to one side but then when we finished up, I was debating it strongly for those couple of weeks. I met with Brian (Flanagan) and had the conversation last week.

PC: How did he take it?

M O’G: We had a good chat about it and he said that he wanted me back involved next year, if the mind and the body were willing to go again. I just gave him my reasoning behind it and my thoughts on it with a busy couple of months ahead and stuff. He wished me well once he knew my mind was made up and he congratulated me on a long career with Kildare. Yeah, we were fine, we were fine.

PC: Obviously you discussed it with your fiancé, Joanne (Mulligan) and family as well?

M O’G: Joanne's very supportive. She plays football herself; her whole family do. There are five girls in the family and they all play with Cappagh. She was going to wish me to go again! They love going to all the matches. My own family are Kildare mad, even though Dad and Mam, Mick and Miriam, are not originally from Kildare, they’re adopted Kildare supporters. They're stone mad about football, they go to every game and Joanne, in particular, travels up and down the country. She goes to all of our League matches. I think they were kind of half hoping I would go again but I just felt it was the right time to step away.

PC: I've talked to other lads like you who decided to retire, they said the hardest thing was leaving the Players’ WhatsApp group. How did you find that?

M O’G: Yes, it was very emotional. I've been in it since the group was set up. We've had a couple of different groups over the years, but I think the group was originally set up by Leper (Eamonn Callaghan) in 2015. I'd say some of the lads on the panel now were probably still in nappies when this was set up. I still have the same phone for God knows how long and I was going back and I could can see all the photos and stuff from the from the players over the years. It was emotional, I wasn't expecting to be hit like that. I left a message and I rang a couple of lads that I would have been very close with over the years just to let them know that what I was thinking and what my decision was. When I put an actual message into the group I was welling up a little bit. It was tough and I just left it straight away. I didn't want to see any replies coming in. So, yeah, I wasn't expecting it to be that tough.

PC: That brings a finality to it, really. You didn't think of changing your mind when you saw the O’Byrne Cup Fixture away to Wexford and then the first League match at the end of January away to Tyrone?

M O’G: I saw that the League Fixtures were released and Tommy O’Connell had put a graphic up and I was mapping it out in my head how we’d approach it. Then I thought, you’re not going to be involved! It’s going to be tough, no point in lying about it. I’ll be there and supporting the lads and wishing them well. I won’t miss the freezing cold matches too much but it will be tough watching the first couple of rounds of the League and wanting to be there helping out the lads but I’ll be there supporting them from the sideline.

PC: When you started off and made your debut in 2013 was it against at Athlone IT in the O’Byrne Cup, did you think 138 appearances later, you would still be involved with Kildare?

M O’G: No, no, no. I made a couple of Championship panels in ’13. I got involved between the League and Championship in Kieran McGeeney’s last year. I always had self-belief but I was probably not confident enough in myself. Maybe a little bit of imposter syndrome when I first came in, thinking, what am I doing here? I'm looking at the likes of Dermot (Earley), Emmet Bolton and then Ollie (Lyons) and Hugh (McGrillen) from my own club. I came in and I was competing with a full back line of Peter Kelly, Ollie Lyons, Hugh McGrillen, Mick Foley, Kieran Fitzpatrick, lads like that. Myself and Mick Konstantin came in together on a trial basis. Kieran said come in and just see how you go for a few weeks. I knew Trevor O'Sullivan from Celbridge who was involved in 21’s that year and he was a great help to me at the time. He would have been pushing me out of my comfort zone, trying to convince me I'm good enough to play at that level but certainly, at that stage, I didn't think I would have gone on. I've been very lucky that I haven't had any major injury that's put me out for a year. In 2014 Jason (Ryan) gave me an opportunity and I’m grateful for that because, you know yourself, in the first year you make mistakes but he stuck with me and he gave me plenty of opportunity to build that kind of confidence and belief in myself.

PC: You’ve played under six managers, which is no mean feat, but in fact it shows that there's been a lot of changes in Kildare at managerial level over the 11/12 years in which you’ve been involved.

M O’G: I started off with Kieran and he was brilliant. He just had an aura about him and you could see that the whole playing group were right behind him. They were absolutely willing to do whatever he said and when I came in the end of that year there was a bit of trouble with what went on and the playing group 100% didn't want him to leave. I was right behind that; you could see his standards were so high. Jason (Ryan) was involved in his last year as a coach and stayed on as manager the year after. I felt sorry for Jason in ways because of that turmoil and that level of change and there were a few lads finished up as well. We ended up going from Division 1 to 2 to 3. But I have a of respect for Jason as he gave me the first chance of playing and he was a brilliant man that way.

PC: Although you did go down the divisions there must have been great satisfaction coming back up to Division 1 again?

M O’G: Cian (O’Neill) came in and we went from 3 to 2 and back up to 1. That climb was brilliant. There was a Leinster Final appearance also but we came up against a really, really, strong Dublin team at that stage. The result didn't go to plan but that was a brilliant experience. I think there could have been over 60,000 at that at that match, probably the biggest crowd I ever got to play in front of with Kildare. It was an unbelievable experience playing in Croke Park with that sort of crowd. The last time I'd seen that I was supporting Kildare back in the 2010/11 era.

Cian’s coaching was excellent, tactically he was very good. His analysis was excellent and he was way ahead of the curve with some of the stuff. He had us doing simple stuff but he was big on working on your skills and stuff like that. At the time we were using the gym out behind Newbridge Silverware and you had to have your own football to get through the basic skills, working on your hand pass and your kick pass before we even went the gym session.

Then we had Jack (O’Connor). Jack was absolutely football mad. He wasn't on for meetings and analysis as we would have had with Cian. Everything was football based. His two years were a little bit disjointed with Covid so it always felt it wasn't real. It would be nice to see how those two years would have played out if played under normal circumstances and we had the full All Ireland series in place as well.

PC: During those years there were some famous or infamous games, including the defeat to Carlow? 

M O’G: I think that was probably the biggest backlash I'd seen at that point in my career. There was a massive reaction. It was a poor performance and it was an extremely early exit out of out of Leinster. We felt we massively let ourselves down and let the group down. I think I was actually sent off that day. It was a bad performance but I suppose the flip side of it was the reaction that came after that. I do remember a couple of players meetings. 

PC: The most important game then was the following game up in Derry?

M O’G: It was huge going up. That was potentially a massive banana skin. I remember going up and a couple of young lads pinging stones at the bus and everything. We went up and there was an agreement just within the playing group that no matter what, we were coming out of there with a win. I remember, before the ball was even thrown in, there was a hell a lot of lads on the ground. I remember Keith Cribbin and Fergal Conway were involved before the ball was thrown in with their man and that set the tone for the whole game. I don't think they were expecting that from us. When I look back that was definitely a performance to be really proud of because it would have been very easy to roll over and lose that game, particularly up there as well.

PC: You appeared in a couple of Finals in Croke Park. Did you enjoy the experience?

M O’G: Yeah, I did in 2017. I didn't enjoy getting beat, certainly not. I dreamed of winning a Leinster medal and being able to do that with Kildare but 2017 was a brilliant experience just because of the crowd and the atmosphere. I got to captain Kildare and again we were on the receiving end of a bad beating. I haven't spent too much time reflecting on it but that was a huge, a moment just for me and my family and my club as well.

PC: What did it mean to you to be appointed captain under Glenn?

M O’G: It was a huge one. It wasn't something that I was hell bent on. I just go about my business anyway. Even if I was never made captain, it wouldn't have bothered me, I would have done the same thing and would have just conducted myself the same way.

But, yeah, it was massive. I don't believe anyone from Celbridge had ever captained Kildare before. It was huge honour and I'm sure I will look back at it in years to come and think that was a massive, massive moment. They were tough times with Kildare as well so it was a mixed bag too. It would have been nice if you were a captain of the team when we were winning things but we were going through a bad period, so it was tough.

PC: Nobody seems to be able to put a finger on what went wrong because it was an ideal management team, and everything that they could do was done. The players never worked harder yet it just didn't seem to work out. Was that frustrating as a team and were you aware of negativity around the place?

M O’G: It's very hard to escape nowadays, particularly with social media. I try and keep myself off it but you're very much aware of what's been said about the team. It's tough when you're reading that. Some people can get personal with it as well. I'd have a lot of sympathy for younger players who are really, really embedded in a lot of apps and social media. I think that there's a lot more that can be done to try and support players and educate them on staying away from that.

We weren't happy ourselves. When you get into a rut like that and you start losing games the League is really, really tough. If you lose the first couple of rounds of the League, you've got very little time to try and turn it around. When you get into a rut like that you end up almost trying harder and things can actually get worse. I had a lot of sympathy for Glenn and the management team. Glenn, in particular, took a lot of flak, a lot of it undeserved as well because I would have always felt a lot more responsibility lies with the playing group than it does the management at times too. I suppose the manager, he was bearing a lot of that. You know, we finished up the year against Monaghan and if you actually look at the starting team that played that day and I think I've counted before, there could have been seven/eight lads from that starting team that weren't available for whatever reason the year after. Going into Year 3 there was a huge transition there and I felt that was glossed over at the time. We were missing a lot of players and particularly a lot of scoring forwards. A lot of lads were trying to step up for the first time. It wasn't good enough getting relegated to Division 3, we all know that, and we ended up in the Tailteann Cup. It was frustrating, it was annoying because we came so close to beating Monaghan and then we're down that number of players going into the into the following year.

PC: Although you weren’t captain 2025 was a very positive year for Kildare.

M O’G: The trajectory has gone in the right direction, yeah. We would have set ourselves targets at start of the year and getting promoted back to Division 2 was one of them. We achieved that. We didn't win the League Final. Then we wanted to make a Leinster Final and play in the All-Ireland series, which didn't happen. I suppose there were positives in the performance against Louth, definitely something that the lads can build on going into this year. Once we knew our fate going into the Tailteann Cup there was an agreement within the group that were would approach it the right way and do our best to win it. Look, there's no straight, linear curve upwards but at least it's definitely going in the right direction.

PC: When you were coming in to 2025 did you ever think that you might not necessarily start every game?

M O’G: Not really. No. I wouldn't have come in if I had that mindset. I played all the League games and then missed out and I was disappointed to miss out playing. I got on for a few minutes against Westmeath and didn't play at all against Louth and then got back in for the Leitrim and Tipperary games. Then I fractured my ankle in a lovely divot in the pitch down in Tipperary just before halftime so I wasn't happy about that. I was frustrated towards the end of the year but it's just the type of person that I am. If I'm training and putting everything in I want to be playing but I think if I had that mindset going into the year, I probably wouldn't have gotten involved.

PC: It was a nice way to finish your career by winning the Tailteann Cup and getting promotion? 

M O’G: It's the first time we've ever ended the year on a high as long as I've been playing with Kildare because it's usually comes to an abrupt ending. It was brilliant just to get to spend time with the group and then with our family and partners that evening. We never get to do that, usually it's the complete opposite. You're in a bad mood or you're sulking after a bad performance so it was brilliant. I'll hold on to the memory forever; a bit of time in the dressing room after with the playing group. Then we stopped off in Friels in Straffan for an hour or two and we were just in our own company there. That was a nice moment as well. Then our families and partners came across. Actually, it was great craic. I really, really enjoyed that.

PC: How will you reflect on your intercounty career, Mick?

M O’G: Obviously, when I look at it, the silverware is not there that I would have liked so I have to accept that. I didn't try to say it initially like you're disappointed in that you've put whatever twelve years into it and didn't get the silverware that you dream of when you're growing up. I have to be realistic about it as well. We've come up against a very, very strong Dublin team during that time period in Leinster. I'd be very proud of myself and it's not like even winning the Cup last year. That's not what I'm remembering. It's actually just the friendship and the camaraderie and being part of a group that's trying to drive for the same thing. That's the standout thing for me at the moment. I would have loved to have won in Leinster and win an All-Ireland with Kildare, of course I would. But I think I look back at it and I don't have any regrets. I wouldn't have done it any other way. If I could play on for another ten years, I'd love to do that.

PC: What would have been a highlight for you over the twelve years?

M O’G: I've been thinking about that in the last in the last couple of weeks. My memory in general is not great until I start talking about it but I still remember my first game. I've had some good battles and I’ve been very fortunate that I've gotten to mark some really, really good players. I remember certain games like the time we played Kerry down in the Super Eights. My dad's a Kerry man as well. I remember picking up Kieran Donaghy, who was coming towards tail end of his career but he was monster of a man. I remember going in and having a right good crack at him as well. I got to mark some really good players over the years, the likes of Con O’Callaghan, David Clifford, Damien Comer, lads like that. I really enjoyed those battles and if you come out holding your own you have a real sense of pride in yourself after you've done a good job.

PC: Who would you have looked up to or who might have influenced you in your intercounty career?

M O’G: From an early age Mick Mullen and Trevor O'Sullivan would have been very important along with my parents and family in my development. Particularly Trevor when he came in and took over the Celbridge minor and U21 teams. There were some great lads around when I got involved with Kildare. I would have looked up to Hugh and Ollie a good bit because they were from my club. Mick Foley was brilliant. He was good to me and a lot of the younger lads. Eoin Doyle would have been very influential even though he was the same age as me. He was a brilliant team mate, a brilliant captain over the last number of years. The likes of Emmet Bolton and Leper (Eamonn Callaghan) as well were brilliant for seeing what standards needed to be maintained. In the latter years some of my best friends are the likes of Kevin Feely, David Hyland as well as Fergal (Conway) and Paddy (Brophy) from my own club. Neil Flynn, Dan Flynn, there was a core group of us there and they would have been all very influential in their own ways.

PC: Finally, Mick, do you think Kildare has the potential to do well in 2026 and beyond?

M O’G: Yeah, definitely, Pat. Division 2 is extremely tough but, looking at the fixtures, staying up would be a positive but I don’t see why the lads wouldn’t target a League final. I’m jealous in a way as I’d love to be starting my career again. I think the next five or six years in Leinster are going to be extremely exciting. There’s probably five or six team that feel like they can make a Leinster Final. You see how close our games were with Westmeath and Offaly, so ourselves, Westmeath, Offaly. Meath and Louth competed in the Final last year and Dublin under a new manager will have a bounce but everyone will feel like they can beat each other. Look there is no reason we can’t do anything in Division 2 and be targeting a Leinster Final next year.