Dermot O'Brien:Dermot O'Brien, who has died aged 74, captained the Louth team that won the all-Ireland football championship in 1957, and subsequently established himself as one of Ireland's most popular musicians.
A talented centre-half forward, he won county championship medals with his local club, St Mary's, Ardee, in 1951, 1956 and 1960. He made his debut as a senior county player at the age of 20 in 1952 and was a key player in Louth's Leinster championship wins in 1953, when the team defeated Wexford, and 1957, when they overcame Dublin.
An injury he sustained in the match against Wexford kept him out of football for several years. But he was back in harness for the 1957 championship campaign and in the Leinster final took over the captaincy from injured club colleague Patsy Coleman.
Louth defeated Tyrone in the semi-final, but O'Brien was almost locked out of Croke Park on all-Ireland final day. Delayed in the team hotel so that he could receive treatment for a shoulder injury, he reached the ground only 15 minutes before the throw-in and was denied entry by a gateman, who failed to recognise him.
Fortunately his identity was confirmed by a group of supporters and he was just in time to lead the team on to the pitch. Following a quiet first half, he played a captain's part in Louth's 1-9 to 1-7 defeat of Cork - the county's first all-Ireland victory since 1910. He retired from competitive football in 1960, but in later years was happy to turn out for the Jimmy Magee All-Stars.
Born in Ardee in 1932, O'Brien was the son of Paddy O'Brien and his wife Nancy (nee Dowdall). His father was bandmaster of the Ardee Brass and Reed Band, and Dermot played trombone with the band. He later learned to play accordion at the local Convent of Mercy.
Concentrating on the accordion, he was a regular prize-winner at feiseanna. In his teens he played on a part-time basis for £1 a night with the Emerald céilí band, based in Slane, and later played with the Vincent Lowe Trio from Newry.
He then formed the St Malachy's céilí band, named after the nun who taught him the accordion. In 1962 he left his job as a clerical officer with Meath County Council to become a professional musician with his newly formed band the Clubmen. Éamon Campbell, now of The Dubliners, was in the first line-up, and the band quickly became a major attraction on the booming dancehall circuit. His best-known hit, The Merry Ploughboy, went straight to the top of the Irish charts on its release in 1966. Perfectly in tune with the mood of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Easter Rising, it was in fact adapted from an old British army recruiting song in praise of the Royal Horse Artillery.
It was O'Brien's manager, Jim Hand, who identified the song's potential. At the peak of its chart success the pair encountered the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, at the baggage carousel in Heathrow airport. Hand introduced himself, and in typical showband fashion spoofed about the great business the Clubmen were doing. "Are yiz doin' the Ploughboy?" he asked Epstein. "We're doin' all your stuff." Other big hits included The Galway Shawl, and two self-penned songs, Turfman from Ardeeand Dublin in 1962. Instrumentals such as Whistling Rufus, The Cuckoo Waltzand The Darktown Strutters' Ballallowed him to demonstrate his mastery of the accordion. He was also involved in record production, producing albums by Margo, Philomena Begley, Larry Cunningham and Dermot Hegarty.
He had his own show on Telefís Éireann in the 1960s and 1970s, and was a guest on an American St Patrick's Day network television special, appearing with Bing Crosby.
Artistes with whom he appeared in concert include Johnny Cash, Hank Snow and Bill Haley and the Comets. Highly regarded for his musicianship in Scotland, he also toured the rest of the UK, as well as the US, Canada, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. He was a particular favourite at the Galtymore Ballroom in Cricklewood, where a chilled bottle of white wine - "Dermot's diesel" - was set aside on the nights he played the venue. Performing with the Dermot O'Brien Trio, he appeared in Jurys Irish Cabaret from 1995 to 2000. Since then he pursued a solo career, dividing his time between Ireland and the US. He was a fluent Irish speaker who regularly visited the Rann na Feirste Gaeltacht, and while in the US listened on satellite to Raidió na Gaeltachta.
He spent his final years in Ardee, and attended the reunion of the 1957 all-Ireland winners last February. Predeceased in 2005 by his wife Rosemarie (nee Walsh), he is survived by his sons, Ronan and Dermot, and daughters, Grace and Róisín.
•Dermot O'Brien: born October 23rd, 1932; died May 22nd, 2007