Spillane proves a hugely entertaining Special Guest

Pat Spillane, the Special Guest, at this year’s Carlow Nationalist Award’s night confessed he was preoccupied as he made his way from his home in Templenoe, County Kerry, to the Dolmen Hotel on Friday.

Talking to Master of Ceremonies, Brendan Hennessy, he admitted he could never remember playing against Carlow and in his time as The Sunday Game’s analyst, he couldn’t ever remember talking about Carlow football teams.

“I don’t go to many functions but what was in my head a lot of the time, have I insulted these fellas before. I wasn’t too sure. Someone said I never did analysis of the Carlow team,” he said.

Hennessy pointed out to his guest that he had in fact alluded to one Carlow footballer in particular.

“Pound for pound you said Willie Quinlan was the best gaelic footballer you had ever seen,” the skilled match commentator told his guest.

The room was buzzing.

Spillane spoke about his footballing career where he won five All-Ireland senior medals from 1974 to 1981 before injury threatened to end his career.

“I ruptured my cruciate ligament. In the 1980s when you ruptured your cruciate ligament you never again played sport.” At the time, Pat Spillane travelled to a specialist in England and worked hard on his own to resurrect his career. He changed his attitude to the game and won further senior All-Ireland titles with Kerry from 1984 to 1986. While he was recovering he vowed he would do things in a different way.

“If I got a second chance to play football again, what would I do differently the second time round?” he asked himself at the time.

“There were two regrets I had. One, I discovered is that when you were out injured you were gone. There was no ringing you up. You were yesterday’s man. If I ever come back playing one I would do it for myself.

“The second thing, the biggest regret I had was that I never celebrated the achievements, my successes. If I ever win anything again I am going to celebrate. Three All-Irelands, three All Stars. I celebrated every one of them with gusto,” he said.

He advised the 22 award winners to cherish their moments.

“This is your night in the spotlight. Wherever there is someone willing to shake your hand and pat you on the back, go to them. There will be far more nights of failures and disappointments.” He said losing was a part of sport and it was how people reacted when they had a bad day.

“The mark of a true champion is not defined by their wins but how they recover from their failures. The key to success is being able to recover from your failures.” Mick O’Dwyer, who was manager of Kerry when the special guest won his eight All-Ireland medals, passed away in 2025.

“An amazing man,” pointed out Pat.

“Privileged and lucky to be born in Kerry. I was particularly lucky to come across a person called Mick O’Dwyer as my manager.

“I loved this man. Anything I achieved in sport was because of him. He made you dream the impossible dream. He made you feel 20 feet tall. He made you feel anything was possible.” Spillane confirmed that analysis of the opposition was never used by the famous manager in his time with the Kingdom.

“I played for Micko in twelve All-Ireland finals. He never spoke about the opposition and how we could beat them. It was always about belief in ourselves. Belief in our team mates’ ability. The dream was possible. Our glass was always half full, never half empty.” The Special Guest may have been a famous footballer but for thirty years he was a controversial figure on RTÉ’s The Sunday Game where he often went into battle with Derry man, Joe Brolly. All gloves were off when the two disagreed.

“Brolly is the only man who can, in the space of one minute, give an argument why Kerry are going to win and in the next breath give an argument why Kerry are complete and utter rubbish.” The guest said the Sunday Game changed when the Head of Sport decided to get rid of celebrity pundits. Spillane didn’t and still doesn’t agree with that thought process.

“Celebrity pundits are what made the show particularly good. Myself and Brolly “Everything is rehearsed now. We had nothing rehearsed,” he said.

He reminded Brendan, the MC, that his comments riled spectators from other counties “I was punched by Donegal supporters on Clonliffe Road. I was belted by a Mayo woman with an umbrella. Hid under coats in Ger Canning’s car.

Leaving Croke Park flanked by 20 guards.

“The more I abused Armagh and Tyrone, the more they won All-Irelands. The more they invited me up to after dinners dos. The more they paid me.” Hennessy and Spillane finished up with the MC reminding Spillane that Kerry had in fact played Carlow in Dr Cullen Park in the 1984 Centenary Cup with the visitors eking out a narrow two point win. Afterwards the Spillane brothers of Pat, Tom and Mick visited their relative, Michael O’Sullivan, who was living beside the ground.

“One of the great days in Carlow GAA,” said Hennessy as the attendance rose in appreciation to a GAA legend who never fails to entertain.