Jack O'Connor: The rest of us are only trotting after Micko

RTÉ News​

5 hours ago

Kerry may start engineering these mid-championship crises in future, if they haven't already.
Jack O'Connor appears ready to ride off into the sunset after presiding over a fifth All-Ireland title victory in 11 seasons in charge.
This is the third of the five in which they suffered defeat in the middle of the championship and the walls were supposedly closing in on them before the quarter-final stage.
This has almost become its own genre of All-Ireland victory for Kerry at this stage, particularly so under O'Connor's stewardship.
In his explosive press conference after the Armagh win, O'Connor had remarked that a Kerry team that are written off are "dangerous", saying that it allows them to play with a bit of "freedom and abandon."
Clearly, the storm of negative commentary that followed the shock loss to Meath in the last round of the group stage provided ample fuel for a tilt at the knockout stage.
As he plonked down in his seat to reflect on a "hard-earned" title, O'Connor remarked that "I was inside here a month ago and there was a lot of steam coming out of my ears.
"It wasn't faked or it wasn't put on. It was authentic because I felt that we were getting a lot of unfair stick and we were trying our butts off and have been from the start of the year.
"There was a lot of fall-out from the Meath game and life wasn't pleasant for me for a couple of weeks there. And maybe that was behind the bit of steam I left off here a month ago.
"So, for us to finally get the reward is great."
In O'Connor's case, it was the criticism from ex-Kerry players that rankled most - "a few pundits down our way let themselves down".
For the Kerry players, it seems like it was the "one man team" barb that had them breathing fire.
"As a team, we would feel disrespected," Paudie Clifford told reporters outside the Kerry dressing room. "We were in three of the last four All-Irelands. Have won two of them now.
"To be called a one-man team when I see some of the work that our lads put in. Like Joe O'Connor, the turnovers, winning ball, scoring... Jason Foley, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Gavin White... I'm only naming a few.
"I see the work that they put in every day. To be called a one-man team then is nearly disrespectful. It's personal.
"We'd be our own worst critics as well. We admitted that we have under-performed definitely as a team over some of the years.
"But with the work that we put in and the players we have there, for those things to be said - it's not nice to hear."
O'Connor's third stint as manager, like his first, has yielded two All-Ireland victories. The 2022 victory in the last of the old backdoor system was more of a straight line, dominated by the anxiety around getting over the hurdle of a slowly declining Dublin team who had tormented them during the 2010s.
This one, however, was more stylish and spectacular in the end. Since the early 2000s, Kerry have been listening to endless jibes from their sparring partners in Ulster about their soft route through the Munster championship and how this gift-wraps them an express ticket to the latter stages of the championship.
Now, more mischievous Kerry fans might be inclined to say that, in 2025, they've gone and won Ulster alongside the All-Ireland.
Clifford, who delivered a stellar display, scoring 0-03 and handling an incredible volume of possession, said immediately after the game that it was the first time that this team had put in a 70-minute performance in championship.
An hour after the game, the Kerry centre-forward reflected on the comment in greater depth.
"Even in '22, when we won the All-Ireland, we played well against Dublin for maybe 45-50 minutes but didn't finish well. And probably fell over the line thanks to Seanie's free. Against Galway, we probably didn't start great, it definitely wasn't a 70 minute performance.
"I know the Armagh second half - and we still played well in the first half because Armagh are a top team. Tyrone, we played well but it wasn't an out and out 70 minute performance like that against a top, top team."
From O'Connor's perspective, the key factor in Kerry's victory was their use of possession and their ability to work the Donegal defenders, which in turn drained the latters' capacity for making lung-bursting sprints out of defence.
"A big part of playing Donegal is get value out of your attacks and don't turn it over. I think Meath found that out when they didn't work the Donegal defence. They just took pot shots from outside the arc, looking for two-pointers.
"Now you take the two-pointers when they're on but you don't force them and you work their defenders. I thought we worked the Donegal defenders and that in turn takes away a bit of their legs from going the other way.
"I thought that was a big factor. I didn't think that (Finnbarr) Roarty and (Peadar) Mogan and (Ryan) McHugh had a big influence in that game - attacking-wise. I think a lot of that has to do with the patience we showed in attack and keeping them occupied."
His strike-rate as a manager is now not that far removed from the late Micko, who passed away earlier this year.
O'Dwyer famously won eight All-Ireland titles during his 15 years in the hot-seat, the chief difference being he held the post continuously.
O'Connor had a famously uneasy relationship with the scions of Kerry's golden years during his first stint in charge, something he wasn't shy of disclosing in his bracingly candid 2007 autobiography.
However, this evidently dissipated over the years as O'Connor developed his own reputation as a winning manager.
After the 2022 All-Ireland victory, there was a famous photo of O'Connor bringing Sam Maguire to O'Dwyer in Waterville, in a scene which resembled a recently elected world leader meeting an elderly Pope.
When Micko got a visit from his lifelong friends SAM & Jack #ThisIsKerry 💚💛 pic.twitter.com/cFUkI4Mtre
— Kerry GAA (@Kerry_Official) July 29, 2022
"Micko, you know, he's created a great history and tradition in Kerry and the rest of us are only trotting after him now," O'Connor said.
"A bit sentimental for me because I brought the cup to him to his house in '22 and we had a nice half an hour of a chat there.
"And there was a nice photograph taken, so I treasure that always because you know he was an idol of mine."
As for the future, O'Connor laughed when the Kerryman's Jason O'Connor brought up the possibility of sticking around for a tilt at All-Ireland No. 40.
"Well, all I know is I was going out the door Thursday evening with the with the bag and my missus took a picture of me going out the gate.
"I have a fair idea that'll be going up on the wall as my last hurrah. I say now she'll be framing that one.
"I think I went on record earlier in the year that it'll probably be my last hurrah. Look I don't want to be telling ye lads before I tell anyone else. There's a lot more important people down the corridor.