Sad to report the passing of Mick O'Brien. Walterstown GAA have paid tribute to a man who gave a lifetime of service to Meath GAA.

Goodbye and thanks Mick. 

It is with deep sadness that we have learned of the passing of the one and only Mick O’Brien yesterday. Finding the superlatives to describe his impact on our club and our community is no easy task, and likely impossible to do him justice.

One of a kind, Mick devoted much of his life to Walterstown, the GAA and Meath Cumann na mBunscol, giving his time tirelessly and his energy ferociously. Any list of what he did would only scratch the surface, and knowing Mick, he’d be the only man to have had the full version written down somewhere anyway!

His footballing story began in 1955 with De La Salle in Navan, where he picked up an U13 Towns League medal. There was no underage football in Johnstown at the time, so Mick went up to minor level with the Salles. 

A year later he moved on to St Finian’s College in Mullingar, winning a Leinster title in 1960 before losing out to St Jarlath’s of Tuam in the All-Ireland final. That same year, he lined out in adult football for Walterstown for the first time against our neighbours Seneschalstown.

In ’61 he tasted his first success with Walterstown, training the team alongside Bernard McCluskey and lining out in the Junior Championship final win over Ratoath. He didn’t make the throw-in, missing the bus from Dublin and arriving into Páirc Tailteann with the game already underway.

By 1965 the club had reached the senior ranks, but the year before, a meeting in Johnstown shop set the underage section of the club in motion, with Mick at the heart of it from the start. What followed was years upon years with juveniles, and once it got a hold of him, that was that. That meeting laid the foundations for the club’s glory years that followed, and Mick’s fingerprints were all over it.

At intercounty level, Mick’s career with Meath GAA may have been short, but it was a successful one, highlighted by the 1967 All-Ireland triumph and the trip to Australia the following spring. He had already collected Leinster medals in ’62 and ’64, and was a member of the senior panel in 1966. In 1967, he lined out at right full-forward throughout the Leinster campaign, playing his part in the final victory over Offaly on the way to All-Ireland success, alongside his club mate Pat Reynolds.

In 1968 came something that would matter far more than just a result. Only four years after the juvenile section was established, a Johnstown team trained by Mick won the county U14 championship. It was the first real glimpse of what was coming, with names like Eamonn O’Brien, Gerry and Christy Reynolds already in the mix, players Mick had a serious hand in shaping.

By 1977, those early seeds were starting to show. Walterstown ended a 13-year wait for adult silverware, winning the Junior 2 title against Longwood, with Mick at full-forward. He wasn’t just involved at this stage, he was right in the middle of it, alongside lads who would go on to define the club.

Before he ever led Walterstown to their first Keegan Cup, stopping Summerhill’s five-in-a-row along the way, Mick had already made his mark at inter-county level. He was over the Meath team that turned over the All-Ireland champions Dublin in the 1975 National League final, no small thing at the time, and not something done by accident.

Away from the pitch, Mick was just as involved, and just as formidable. He was a familiar figure at Meath County Board meetings for decades. He knew the rule book inside out, and if there was a point to be made, Mick wasn’t afraid to make it. He served as secretary of the Juvenile Board from 1964 to ’76, and later represented Meath at Leinster GAA Council level. He brought the same intensity there as he did everywhere else, always pushing, always arguing his corner. His contribution was recognised when he was appointed Honorary President of Meath GAA, a well-earned and fitting honour, and he also went on to serve as President of Meath Cumann na mBunscol.

That same drive was felt just as strongly at club level, where Mick was an administrative force, shaping and guiding Walterstown behind the scenes for years. Collecting photos and keeping records too, of course!

But around Walterstown, this is what he’ll always be remembered for. The teams. Five Senior Football Championships in ’78, ’80, ’82, ’83 and ’84, and two Leinster titles in ’80 and ’83. That run didn’t just happen, and it certainly wasn’t luck. Mick was ahead of his time, a pioneer in how he saw the game, how he coached it, and how he demanded it be played.

Those were the years that put Walterstown on the map, the years people still talk about, and Mick was right at the centre of it all, driving it on. In 1983, working alongside Kerry great Jack O’Shea, it all came together again at the highest level. They were glory days for the club, no doubt about that, but they were built on the standards he set and the work he put in long before the medals ever came.

And then there were the books. True to form, Mick didn’t just live the history of Walterstown, he sat down and wrote it. Perseverance Brings Success charts the club from its earliest days up to 1987, and like everything he did, the level of detail is something else. It’s not just a record, it’s a reflection of the care and pride he had in our club. 

That wasn’t the end of it either. Mick was a man of many parts, and his contribution to the game stretched well beyond the club. He also produced The Struggle for Páirc Tailteann and the county volume The Loyal and Royal, ensuring that the wider story of Meath football was captured just as carefully.

And even after all of that, he kept going. Mick gave years upon years to the juveniles in Walterstown. It wasn’t half-hearted either. Postcards through letterboxes with training times, young lads packed into the back of his little car, always another session, always another team. Once it got a hold of him, that was that.

He was ahead of his time here too, championing girls to play football long before it was the norm, and giving just as much to school teams in Lismullen NS. And if there was a game to be played, Mick was interested, none more so than rounders, which he loved every bit as much.

The stories that could be told would keep you going for days, and most of them would have you laughing. It was more than dedication. It was something closer to obsession.

And even all of that is only scratching at the surface. You could write a book on Mick, though you’d want him around to correct it! He had his own way of doing things and stood firm in it, and certainly ruffled a few feathers along the way, but he left his mark. And what a mark that is.

The late Mick O’Brien (centre) pictured with his brothers Sean, Eamonn, Dermot and Ollie and the Keegan Cup. Pic Walterstown GAA.

And for all he gave, all he drove, and all he left behind, there’s a real sense now of something missing. The kind you don’t replace.

Our thoughts are with his brothers Seán, Dermot, Oliver and Eamonn, his sisters Betty and Margaret, his nieces and nephews, and with our players Aidan, Freddie, Iarlaith, Sarah, Setanta, Pearl and Dualta, our coach Eimear and all the O’Brien Family. His loss will be felt most deeply by them, and by all who knew him.

There won’t be another like him.

Ní bheidh a leithéid ann arís. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam 

Meath GAA extends its deepest sympathies to the O’Brien family and to everyone in Walterstown GAA on the passing of Mick O’Brien.

Mick was a towering figure in Meath GAA as a player, mentor, administrator, and historian of our games. 

His contribution at club, juvenile, county, provincial, and national level was immense and enduring. 

Mick’s influence on Meath football and on the wider GAA community cannot be overstated.

He gave a lifetime of service with passion, integrity, and an unmatched knowledge of the Association, and his legacy will live on in Walterstown, in Meath, and far beyond.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

Funeral Details

Reposing at St Joseph’s Chapel of Rest, Old Johnstown, Navan (C15 C425) on Thursday, 30th April from 4pm followed by removal at 6:30pm to arrive at The Church of the Nativity of Our Lady, Johnstown for evening prayers at 7pm.

Funeral Mass on Friday morning at 11am. Burial afterwards in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Boyne Rd, Navan.

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