Originally from Dublin but born to parents from Kerry and Meath, Danny Mulvihill first moved to Kildare in 1976 and quickly immersed himself in local sport. He played rugby for Cill Dara RFC, was the club doctor but it's his involvement in the GAA that he is best known for.
The arrival of Kerry great Mick O'Dwyer signalled the start of a long relationship between Danny Mulvihill and the Kildare senior football panel and he has the late Michael Osborne to thank for his involvement.

"I was always involved since I came to Kildare in 1976. I was involved with Cill Dara Rugby Club, played rugby for them and did the doctoring for them. I got to know the late great Michael Osborne and when he and a few others started up the supporters club and got Mick O'Dwyer, one of Micko's requirements was to have a doctor on board. Michael asked me if I was interested and the rest is history as they say," explained Dr Mulvihill.

Since initially getting involved Dr Mulvihill has worked with six different Kildare managers. He had two spells with O'Dwyer, then there was Dermot Earley, Padraig Nolan, John Crofton and now Kieran McGeeney.

In 20 years the game has evolved so much, has become more professional, demands on players in the modern game are far higher and Dr Mulvihill has been on the 'frontline' watching it all unfold.

"Micko was the old traditional style manager that comes from a long way back, whereas Kieran McGeeney is probably now the modern day, very professional type manager with the sports science side of things involved. The other guys like Johnny Crofton and Padraig (Nolan) were interested in the sports science side of things also but certainly Kieran McGeeney has brought it up another level and I think the evidence is there because the results are really showing," he said.
However, Dr Mulvihill is not fully convinced football has changed all that much over the years.

He added: "The game has got faster, it has got a bit more professional but it's still basically the same old game. It's still physical and it's still tough."

Through his involvement with Kildare Dr Mulvihill was a founding member of the Gaelic Games Doctor's Association and last year he was made chairman of the GAA's Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee. He is a highly respected figure in Croke Park and he and his colleagues are the first port of call when the GAA need advise on issues such as doping.

"From my involvement with Kildare I used to meet other doctors involved in the inter county scene and there used to be the odd get together of county doctors in Croke Park, especially when things like dope testing were introduced. However, there was no real organisation there.

"About ten years ago Pfizer had sponsored a general sports medicine meeting for doctors in Portumna and I went along to that and the majority of doctors at it were involved in GAA. A few of us got chatting over the weekend and we found a lot of common interests and problems and we agreed that it would be a good idea to get together and form some sort of organisation, a kind of talking shop. So that's where it grew out of," explained Dr Mulvihill.

He added: "We called it the Gaelic Games Doctor's Association and I was one of the four that started that with former Dublin player and manager Pat O'Neill, Phil Carolan, who was the Cavan doctor, and the Dublin doctor Pat Duggan.

"I became secretary, treasurer, which I still carry. Then when things started happening in Croke Park, and dope testing came in, the GAA president, which was Sean Kelly at the time, needed advise on it and also when Cormac McAnallen died a lot of pressure came on to do cardiac testing.

"Sean Kelly asked the Gaelic Games Doctor's Association more or less to move in, which was running parallel but independent of Croke Park. He essentially asked us to be the medical committee and he also brought in a few other like sports scientists, physiotherapists and a few Croke Park people. We have a committee there now which is called the Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee and basically we are an advisory body. We set an agenda on the things that matter most in terms of player welfare."

Luckily, says Dr Mulvihill, drugs are not a major problem in the GAA. Looking back on last year alone, all anti doping procedures were returned negative after 75 random tests over the course of the National League and Championship, although he admits that recreational drugs are a factor in today's game.

"We have been very lucky in the GAA. We have the reports from the Irish Sport Council who police doping and drugs haven't been found to be a problem in the GAA. We know recreational drugs like cannabis are widely used everywhere and I have no doubt some of it in senior players too. To allow the need to perform most GAA players wouldn't be using anything though," insisted the Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee Chairman.

Recommendations tabled by the Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee and recently brought in to the GAA rule book have caused quite a stir.

In October the GAA announced that hurlers at all levels must wear helmets, including faceguards from January 1 of this year and this is something Dr Mulvihill is adamant about despite opposition from a number of high profile players.

"If you talk to players, even the players who had their minds set completely against it, most of them agree with the logic of it. I think it will just become habit especially considering the fact that it was started at underage a few years ago. If you save one eye, or even worse, a fractured skull or broken teeth what value do you put one against the other. Even if one or two guys are upset it can't continue.
There has to be a standard. There's no point in fellas going and buying a standard helmet and then cutting out through the bars or undoing it. It's like the fella with the hard hat going on the site – it had to be made compulsory and all these things are accepted now on building sites. If you look at ice hockey players, at American footballers – it doesn't impede them," he insisted.

Back on the local scene Dr Mulvihill is pleased with the progress of Mikey Conway following his cruciate knee operation. The Nurney club man picked up the injury against Wicklow in last year's qualifiers and the team doctor is more pleased with Conway's attitude to the injury and recovering more than anything else.

"Mikey is on schedule and he is doing well and we guess he'll probably be back in April . He is a tremendous player with tremendous drive and guts. It's not his first injury like this and he got back after the last one and when this one happened he knew what he had to do. Before he even had his operation he was looking forward to getting the programme of training he needed and looking forward to getting back," admitted Danny.

Dr Mulvihill, who has a surgery in Kildare, says probably the most horrific injury he has seen in the GAA was Beano McDonald's leg break against Tyrone in 2004. Such injuries need urgent attention and if there was one positive to take from the Laois' man's plight that was the improvement in medical facilities and personnel in Croke Park thereafter. However, Dr Mulvihill wishes it was the same all over the country.

"Apart from the cruciates and those kind of things that put fellas out for six to nine months, the worst I ever saw was Beano McDonald when he got that horrendous fracture. That actually changed the way players were treated on the pitch in Croke Park. We had a couple of injuries that, as doctors, we weren't happy with the response from the Croke Park medics but they have since got their act together and the paramedics there on match days now are superb," remarked Dr Mulvihill.

He added: "The facilities in Croke Park are as good as you can get. I can't say the same about facilities around the country and that's one of our big problems as a medical committee. We're chasing now to have facilities upgraded. When I go in to a ground the first thing I do is look at the medical room, locate where the ambulance is and if their isn't an ambulance I get the number of the nearest hospital. We have a routine and all these things we do quietly without any fussing.

"The number of places that don't have facilities, even places that have been recently refurbished don't have proper facilities. These are the types of grounds we're trying to address and we are trying to put pressure on inside as a committee. We're only an advisory committee in Croke Park, we don't have any statutory powers but we do make recommendations and I suppose if we make them in the right way we might get people to listen."

Being Kildare's team doctor is almost a way of life for Danny Mulvihill now. His two decades, he says, have been an enjoyable two, and one can safely say he'll be around for another while longer. He might not be as hands on as he once was but he still has a big role to play in the Lilywhite's quest for glory.

"What I do is only an extension of what I do during the day and it's an enjoyable side of it. It is a way of life for me now and I'm very lucky that my wife loves the game too. It's probably the only recreation I have now other than summer holidays. Life moves on, the demands on your time are different and will be different. In the beginning with Micko I was at every training session but I don't have the same input now.

"Kieran and his people for example are very much in to the sports science side of things and they run the training and fitness, conditioning and nutrition, which I had a lot of input in to initially with Micko. I would be there for all the games and I go to training once a week usually to sort out anything that needs sorting out. I would be available at the end of the phone or if lads want to come over and see me any time," he said.

He might not be originally from Kildare but after 34 years in the Shortgrass County Danny Mulvihill is as good as white. Over the course of the last 20 years he has many a fond memory from his involvement; one stands out more than the others though and he's hoping even fonder memories lie ahead.

"My best memory would probably be '98 but not the obvious one. The whole year was absolutely tremendous but the best single memory for me was Bryan Murphy's goal against Meath. I know the two goals against Dublin were huge too but for me when Bryan scored it showed everything. It showed so much skill and gave everything such a lift.

"Hopefully I'll have more memories like that this year but every other team is working on it too. It's not as if everyone else stands still and you jump up that far, it's a whole new season again so who knows, and you certainly need a bit of luck," said the long serving and popular doc.