Moment Jack O'Connor knew something was stirring with Kerry

Irish Examiner

4 days ago

A TURNING point in Kerry's season?
Jack O'Connor isn't fond of that phrase. He instead looks for the game where something started to stir inside his players and inside the dressing-room.
The game that comes closest to matching the above description is the Round 4 League win in Pomeroy.
Little form coming in and behind the early season curve as Dr Crokes and Austin Stacks players had to be given extended breaks following lengthy club seasons, Jack drew buckets of encouragement from how players responded to the multitude of setbacks that day in rural Tyrone.
'We got a big win up in Pomeroy on a very, very bad day, in a game that was going against us. A lot of things were going against us. We played part of that second-half with 13 men, both David Clifford and Joe O'Connor got black cards,' Jack recalled.
'We finished strong and obviously David got three goals that day, so we just felt leaving Pomeroy that there was a real spirit in the group, you know, because they are never easy places to go, grounds like that, bad weather; that really tests your nerve and tests your gut and tests your togetherness. We felt there was something stirring alright then.'
The subsequent defeat in Castlebar dampened those spirits somewhat, but the two-week break that followed, after five weekends on the go, allowed them to mould and strengthen the raw materials displayed against the Red Hand.
'We got rejuvenated over that fortnight and had a big win over Armagh in Tralee. We were still facing relegation in Salthill, we managed to go up there and get a good win. We got to the League final and won, so I think around then fellas started believing that there could be something afoot here.'
Injuries have been the chief stumbling block since. Jack has never known a summer where they've endured so many hits. Within that, the two games standing out are the two trips to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
'We had a lot of freak injuries this year. I can't ever remember being involved in a game where three of our players were gone by half-time like they were above in Cork (in the All-Ireland series). We'd Barry Dan (O'Sullivan) gone, Paul Geaney gone, and Paudie Clifford gone by half-time.
'That was in the round-robin game, and then in the Munster semi-final, we had a huge level of attrition in that as well. Shane Ryan went off early after a clash with Brian Hurley, and there were others. We had Gavin White go off with a head injury at one stage, Barry Dan had to go off temporarily, and we had Paudie sent off that day, so we have had a few fierce tough battles with Cork and we had the ones to prove it.'
On the most up-to-date injury news, Diarmuid O'Connor participated in the full Kerry training session on Saturday, increasing hopes that the midfielder will make his return from injury in Sunday All-Ireland final.
Inside forward Paul Geaney (shoulder) also took full part in Saturday's session, with Tom O'Sullivan (calf) still not fully back, the manager confirmed at the county's All-Ireland final media event.
After a powerful start to the spring, midfielder O'Connor has endured an injury-plagued campaign since first hurting his shoulder during the Round 6 League win at home to Armagh in mid-March.
His latest setback was at the beginning of the preliminary quarter-final win over Cavan four weeks ago, where he lasted just three minutes before having to withdraw. He has not featured since.
Geaney was listed on the match-day panel for both the All-Ireland quarter-final and semi-final victories but was not used on either occasion, while defender O'Sullivan limped out of the quarter-final win over Armagh when picking up a first-half calf injury.
'Paul and Diarmuid trained fully today, and there are a couple more sessions to go, so that's promising. Tom O'Sullivan isn't back fully yet, he's doing bits and pieces, so we'd hope he'd train next week. Outside of that we are not too bad.'