THE EXTRAORDINARY LEGACY of Brian Mullins will be a major topic of conversation among GAA people for years after his untimely death last month. Mullins’ exploits went far beyond his fabled playing career with Dublin, Marc Ó Sé told the GAA Weekly podcast.   

The five-time All-Ireland winner said that Mullins was hugely admired in Kerry due to his exceptional footballing prowess that graced the storied rivalry with Dublin in the 1970s and and 80s – and there was also a strong family link with the Kingdom too.   

“There was a Kerry connection as well with Brian Mullins,” said Ó Sé. “His mother was from Lispoole, just over the road from where I’m from. His uncle Bill Casey played centre-back with Kerry, won numerous All-Ireland medals.” 

Ó Sé joked that Mullins had failed to see the rise of the all-conquering Dublin side of the 2010s.  

“I remember meeting him . . . I think it could have been at the launch of Paudí’s football tournament. It was just after the 2009 quarter-final where Kerry absolutely hockeyed them and we were talking about the Dubs. ‘Ah no, they’re never going to win anything,’ he said. Now in fairness to him, he did say ‘unless things radically change’, and unfortunately for Kerry things did radically change!” 

Ó Sé added that despite being too young to watch Mullins in his prime, his deeds were pored over in the Kerry Golden Years tapes, among other full recordings of matches from Mullins’ prime.  

“The impact he had on me as a boy growing up watching him in those games, but the impact that he had on St Vincents, the impact that he had on Dublin, the impact he had on UCD, the impact that he had on Derry, the impact that he had on a school in Donegal (Carndonagh), he was just a phenomenal, influential man and unfortunately he’s gone way too early.”    

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