touching it. The 1–19 to 0–13 victory for Offaly turned out to be Kerry's biggest ever defeat in an All-Ireland SFC final. In 1973 Kerry retained their league title for a third successive year. The 2–12 to 0–14 defeat of Offaly gave 37-year-old O'Dwyer his seventh league medal. Kerry later suffered their biggest ever defeat in a provincial decider when Cork accounted for O'Dwyer's side by 5–12 to 1-15. O'Dwyer remained with the Kerry team during the 1973-74 league season, albeit making just one appearance in a fourth round defeat by Cork. He retired from inter-county football following a challenge game against Sligo prior to the start of the championship. Management career Kerry O'Dwyer retired as a player in 1974 and was appointed manager of the Kerry team in 1975. During his fifteen years as manager O'Dwyer's Kerry teams played in ten All-Ireland SFC finals, winning eight of them. During this period as manager, five of his players won eight All-Ireland SFC medals. Four of his players won 8 Texaco Footballer of the Year Awards and overall his players won 71 All Stars Awards. O'Dwyer retired as Kerry manager in 1989 but moved onto other teams. His management career with Kerry spanned the years 1975 through 1989, a period in which Kerry played 55 games, winning 43 of them, losing 7 of them and drawing the other 5. O'Dwyer has also been credited with beginning "unsanctioned commercialism" within Gaelic games when he had the Kerry team arrived at the 1982 Munster Senior Football Championship final in Adidas-branded sportswear in exchange for £10,000 that went towards a team holiday fund. Then, on the morning of the 1985 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, O'Dwyer and his Kerry players featured in an advertisement for Bendix washing machines, with the line "Only Bendix could whitewash this lot". Kildare As manager of the Kildare county team in 1998, O'Dwyer led them to a Leinster SFC title and the 1998 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final; however, Galway defeated his team by four points in that game. His management career with Kildare lasted two periods, the first was 1991–1994 and the second was 1997–2002. He managed the county in 33 games, with 16 wins, 11 losses and six draws. In 1998, he managed the team to a first Leinster SFC title in 42 years. Laois At the age of 66 O'Dwyer took over as manager of the