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There will be many heartfelt tributes paid to Kevin Heffernan from every corner of Ireland, but it's not too difficult to sum up his GAA life.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Kevin was the most important person ever to be involved with the GAA in Dublin. That was because he revolutionised Gaelic football in our capital in a manner that no GAA person has done before or since.
While many great GAA players, mentors and officials have made huge contributions to their counties over the years, no one can match the legacy that Kevin Heffernan bequeathed to Dublin after he changed the face of Gaelic football with the team he created in 1974.
Prior to that, Dublin football teams came and went with no great acclaim or appreciation from the cosmopolitan population, who had many other sports to get involved in and mainly followed rugby and soccer.
I spent many years living on the south side of Dublin city at a time when most people would scarcely know when All- Ireland final day was taking place.
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But then came this powerful Dublin team in 1974, picked by Kevin Heffernan from the highways and byways of the city and county, a mixture of the rough with the smooth, the young and the old, the fit and the occasionally unfit.
His charisma then sparked a football revolution. It started with the All-Ireland final win over Galway in 1974, but the following year it looked as if the bandwagon had been stopped in its tracks when a team of youngsters led by new Kerry manager Mick O'Dwyer crushed the Dubs.
However, in a stroke of genius Heffernan introduced a new half-back line of brilliant players in Tommy Drumm, Kevin Moran and Pat O'Neill for 1976 and this paved the way for him to achieve his own greatest ambition: to beat Kerry in an All-Ireland final.
The next few years saw Irish sport, not just Gaelic football, soar to new heights as massive crowds packed stadiums all over the country and the publicity engendered as a result changed the entire perception of Gaelic Games forever. 'Heffo's Heroes' had arrived.
Masterminding the unexpected was a forte of Kevin's and in October 1976, after beating Kerry, he called the team to a meeting in The Gresham and told them he was resigning.
When the shock waves settled down, Tony Hanahoe took over as the man in charge, while still a top-class player, but Heffernan gradually got involved again the following year in a fairly loose arrangement that worked out successfully.
Outside football, Kevin was head of HR with the old ESB, a very responsible position, and his interest in greyhound racing also saw him leading Bord na gCon for a period.
But GAA, football and hurling, in which he won 21 Dublin county senior championships with his beloved St Vincent's, was Kevin's reason for living.
One of the greatest players of all time, he was always exploring new styles of play and successfully implementing them, a visionary and inspirational leader.
Having come up against Kevin with Offaly and UCD in at least a dozen major championship finals, I have always been painfully aware of the man's brilliance in all aspects of managing football teams.
But I consider it one of the great privileges of my time as a manager to have shared the same sidelines in Parnell Park, Croke Park or Portlaoise as an opponent of this amazing man.
His last managerial role was a few years ago when he trained an U-15 hurling team to victory for St Vincent's, typifying his love of that great club.
There might be a manager to match the achievements of himself or Mick O'Dwyer in the future, but there will never be as influential a person involved in Gaelic football than Kevin Heffernan because of the massive contribution he made to the sport throughout his life.
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dhilis.
