Páidí Ó Sé, his lucky underpants and Charlie Haughey

Pictured above: Páidí Ó Sé patrolling the sideline during his time as Westmeath football manager.

The late Páidí Ó Sé will always be remembered in Westmeath for guiding the county to a historic Leinster senior football success in 2004.

Of course, before Páidí set foot on any pitch as Westmeath manager, there was the small matter of winning eight All-Ireland senior medals as a player with his native Kerry. And he followed that with two more as Kerry manager.

Páidí is among the GAA personalities to feature in a new book written by Curraghboy native John Scally. 'The People’s Games: A GAA Compendium' is a celebration of the magic of the GAA through stories from some of the people who populate it.

In 1985, Páidí was captain of the Kerry team, having earned the honour by guiding West Kerry to county championship success in a player/manager role the previous year.

Páidí's friendship with controversial former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey was well known, with Haughey often visiting his pub in Ventry.

Indeed, Páidí credited Haughey with playing a role in one of his biggest achievements - lifting the Sam Maguire Cup as Kerry captain.

Even during his fairly brief spell in charge of Westmeath, Páidí's fondness for piseogs was evident. And the story involving Haughey shows that Ó Sé's superstitious side went back to his playing days.

As recalled in Scally's book, the legendary Kerryman takes up the story.

‘In 1985 I was captain of Kerry. I was not that long married and my wife packed my bag for me the day before the All-Ireland final when we headed to Dublin. That night though I discovered to my horror that she hadn’t packed my lucky underpants. I had worn them in each of my previous six winning All-Ireland finals and I was absolutely convinced that if I didn’t wear them we wouldn’t win the final again.

'So in a panic I rang my mother. She told me to leave it with her. I rang her back an hour later. She said: "I have arranged for them to travel up on the train in the morning. I rang Charlie Haughey. He will send his car to Heuston station to collect them and he will have them in Croke Park for you in plenty of time for the game".’

Kerry went on to defeat Dublin in the 1985 All-Ireland final, with Páidí winning the seventh of his eight Celtic Crosses.

Despite Haughey's friendship with Ó Sé, Pat Spillane had good reason to query the depth of Haughey’s affinity for Kerry football.

Former Kerry star Spillane recalled: ‘I missed out on my own meeting with Charlie. I came very close. I was in the Skellig Hotel the morning after the Dingle Regatta and Charlie and his entourage were quaffing champagne. They were loud and boisterous and I heard one of them say: “There's Pat Spillane over there".

'Charlie swanned over to the table beside me and tapped the man on the shoulder and said: “Pat Spillane I presume.” The astonished guy replied: “I wish". Charlie turned on his heels and walked back to his party as if nothing happened. So much for his great knowledge of Kerry football.’

*John Scally’s book 'The People’s Games: A GAA Compendium' is available in all good bookshops now.