Bubbles fondly remembered by teammates

By Shane Brophy

Niall O’Meara and Jake Morris paid tribute to former teammate John O’Dwyer who announced his retirement from inter-county hurling last week.

O’Meara, who played minor and under 21 with O’Dwyer, before winning two All-Ireland senior medals with the Killenaule star said he was as good a player ever to play for Tipperary.

“The things he could do with a ball was incredible,” O’Meara began.

“I remember one night at training he was pucking left-handed and someone thought it was a new player on the panel, so that will tell you how good he was.

“If you look back at some of his displays, the 2014 All-Ireland final, 2016, and even 2019 against Wexford when we were under pressure, he got Tipp out of a lot of dodgy situations and won us a lot of matches.

“His talent, I don’t know if we will ever see as good a player striking off both left and right. He is a gentleman too. He’ll be a loss to Tipperary hurling, but he has left a lot of fond memories.”

When John O’Dwyer was first brought onto the Tipperary panel in 2013, Jake Morris was just twelve years of age and he admitted he was one of the players he followed most as a young supporter.

“You’d pay the money just to go in and see him alone some days,” he said.

“When I came onto the squad in 2018, I was taken aback by how skilful he was when I saw him up close.

“I know there are a lot of videos going around with things he did in matches but if you saw some of the thing he did in training, it was ridiculous.

“He was a serious hurler for Tipp, and his record in All-Ireland finals, averaging 4.5 points from play is ridiculous. He was an unbelievable talent.

“I wish him all the best in his retirement, he is gone onto a new stage now in his life, but he can definitely look back with fond memories of what he did in a Tipperary jersey.”