The life of Dublin icon Anton O’Toole is celebrated in a new TG4 documentary, which will air over Christmas.
Hill 16 favourite O’Toole - nicknamed ‘the blue panther’ - passed away in March, 2019 at 68. The programme, which will be screened on Thursday, December 29 (9.20pm) is by Bankos Tales Productions.
It shines a light on O’Toole’s rise to win four All-Ireland titles with Kevin Heffernan’s side, and the close ties that famous team of the 1970s and early 80s still have.
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O’Toole was one of Jim Gavin’s heroes growing up. And the five-in-a-row All-Ireland winning manager called on the Templeogue Synge Street clubman for inspiration as he battled a brain tumour in his final months.
There’s a touching photograph towards the end with O’Toole’s former Dublin teammates sitting in a line in a hospital waiting room for his final appointment. It says a lot about how close the players were.
“We were always all by his side,” says David Hickey, O’Toole’s former Dublin colleague and close friend.
O’Toole had collapsed playing golf with another former Dublin All-Ireland winning player, John McCarthy.
As he battled a brain tumour in the summer of 2018, Gavin brought him into the inner circle to meet the players.
There is some rare footage from inside the Dublin camp of the gathering.
Gavin signs off the meeting speaking to O’Toole: “The legacy that you have left, the footstep in the sand for these guys trying to walk or stand behind you, is outstanding.”
Reflecting on that meeting, Gavin says: “At the time he was sick it was good for Anton to get out and meet people and see the lads train.
“More importantly for the players to see one of their heroes up front.
“We would have spoken a lot about those great 70s and 80s teams and reflected on those players that had gone before them.
Ciaran Kilkenny was there at the meeting: “That was a special day,” he says. “We were all around Anton looking at clips and videos of games he played in.
“He gave us a lot of inspiration, because he was a true hero, a superb player and a historical figure in Dublin football - the Blue Panther.
“Thanks to his presence that day he provided us with great encouragement and confidence as we faced into the (All-Ireland) final that year (2018).
“It was very emotional. The lads were proud to have him there and he was there for us and for Dublin.”
Going into the 2019 All-Ireland final against Kerry, Gavin again called on the spirit and memory of O’Toole as Dublin sought an historic five-in-a-row.
Kilkenny recalls Gavin telling the players: ‘Enjoy playing football. This is your time. The legend, Anton O’Toole has passed away, so go out there and enjoy it and have Anton in your thoughts when you are playing.’”
The programme is filled with poignant moments, including Bobby Doyle’s final farewell to his old team mate.
“He was on his own and it was great,” says Doyle, speaking at a lunch in the garden of Hickey’s Skerries home, overlooking the sea with a group of 1970s Dublin legends.
“We had one of those moments that will never be repeated. We held hands. We talked and we shed a tear and I just thanked him that I was in his life.”
There’s also footage of Mary Black - a club mate of O’Toole’s - singing at his funeral and a video of Glen Hansard singing on Grafton Street with O’Toole by his side for his last Christmas.
O’Toole had two club players he coached to an intermediate championship in 2008 involved with Dublin in a decade in which they landed eight All-Ireland titles - Denis Bastick and Eoghan O’Gara.
“I managed to get in to see him right near the end,” says O’Gara. “It was important to me. I didn’t want the opportunity to go.
“I was going to really regret it if I didn’t say thanks to him and I got that chance. I just said to him that I wanted to thank him for what he did for me in my career.
“It meant a lot to me and that I wouldn’t have got to where I got to without him. The two of us shook hands.
“It was a nice moment. I was very glad I got to say that to him and he was able to hear it.”
O’Toole’s nickname came from the late John Bridges, his club mate and friend.
“We took the nickname, ‘the blue panther’ from ‘the pink panther’ obviously because he was an unusual looking footballer -long legs and long arms, and a skinny body and he was able to travel very quickly.
“He was hard and tough even though he was thin.
“So we created a banner. I thought he was a bit embarrassed at the beginning about being sort of a centre of attraction.
“He didn’t go for that kind of thing. He was shy about anything like that.”
Paddy Cullen recalls a raw kid joining the Dublin squad in 1972. O’Toole had to wait until 1974 for his Championship debut.
“When Anton came on the team, I remember it well,” says the former Dublin goalkeeper.
“He arrived in and I remember looking at him going out on the pitch and he couldn’t kick the ball from here to the tree and I was saying to myself, ‘There must be something here that I am missing.’
“Now this is where I bring Heffernan into it. He must have saw something in him, because from day one he used to give him two footballs to bring home.
“I don’t know did he have a gable end on the house, I don’t think he had.
“All of a sudden he developed. He could kick the ball. So you could see this blossoming thing coming in.”
Hickey is certain about O’Toole’s contribution to Dublin’s famous 1977 All-Ireland semi-final victory over Kerry.
“He picked the team up by the bootstraps and pulled us over the line that day, no doubt about it.”
The programme goes through a series of iconic moments from O’Toole’s career, including the run and pass for Brian Mullins’ goal in the 1976 All-Ireland final win over Kerry, and his superb goal against Cork in the 1983 All-Ireland semi-final.
His graceful, languid movement belied his pace, drive and work rate. It proved a lethal combination.
“(The) epitome of team play,” is how Hickey remembers O’Toole.
“Anton had no ego on the field or off the field and that’s why people loved him.”
Anton O’Toole – Finscéal de Shaol GAA (A Legend of GAA Life) will air on TG4 on Thursday, December 29 at 9.20pm.
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