Jack O'Connor: "We are judged on different criteria to other teams"

Irish Daily Mirror

29-06-2025

Jack O'Connor has broadsided ex-Kerry players and pundits, accusing them of writing the county off in their All-Ireland quarter-final victory against Armagh.
Speaking after the Kingdom's 0-32 to 1-21 win against the All-Ireland champions, the Kerry manager said "One of the great motivators in life is trying to prove people wrong. We were being portrayed as a one man team.
"I saw somebody writing this morning that the only Kerry player worthy of being called a Kerry player was David Clifford. David is a great player but David would tell you that there was a fair support cast out today.
"We think we have a lot of good footballers but I think sometimes we are being judged on different criteria to other teams.
"For example, Dublin got beaten by Meath in the Leinster Championship. I didn't see any ex-Dublin players coming out slating the team or slating the management like we had down south in our county.
"There was a sense of commitment to the team and a sense of loyalty to the team. Unfortunately a few pundits let themselves down in that regard."
Concluding the interview, O'Connor said: "I'm not giving out about it from my own point of view. I just gave the example that I never hear Dublin's ex-players slating the team.
"They're loyal to the group and they're loyal to the county and they give their support. What's to be gained by slating people? It's the easiest thing in the world. I'm in the business of building people up. I'm not in the business of knocking people.
"I spent all my life coaching underage school kids, minors, Under-21s, seniors, at every level. I'm in the business of building people, not knocking people. I'd ask people who are knocking that group and knocking people involved with the group to look in the mirror and say, 'What have you contributed? What have you contributed to Kerry football off the field?' You know what I mean?
"It's very easy to knock people. Go away and coach a team. Go away and coach a development squad. Go away and coach a minor team. That's how you help Kerry football, not knocking people."
When asked on Kerry running riot in the second half, racking up fourteen unanswered points, three of which came from two-pointers, O'Connor said: "We just got to grips with the Armagh kickout and that's where we got the stranglehold and drove on from there. Whatever the boys said to themselves at half-time inside the dressing room, they were fierce determined.
"We felt we played well in the first half but gave away a very bad goal that brought Armagh back into it. But we thought we were playing well. We thought we were getting pockets of space to kick scores. I think the introduction of Paudie Clifford at half-time just gave everybody a lift because we know the calibre of a player Paudie is.
"Him and Micheál Burns really lifted the team. Joe O'Connor going to midfield halfway through the second half gave us a big lift as well because Joe had been a little bit peripheral on the wing and he had a big influence when he went to midfield. Some days, stuff like that works for you. Today was that day."
He felt the team had learned from their previous games, with a defeat to Meath forcing them to play Cavan in the preliminary quarter-finals.
He said: "We were fairly sure that the performance above in Tullamore was not us. We were missing some key players that day and things just went awry on us and the game slipped away.
Plus, Meath are a good team. They showed that out there today. I think it was a combination of us not being up to scratch and Meath playing very well and showing the calibre of a team they are.
"But we were fairly sure that wasn't the real Kerry. Maybe we were trying to lull ye all into a false sense of whatever. It worked anyway."
The Kerry boss was happy with the lack of faith in his Kerry side, saying it was an advantage for his charges.
He explained: "I don't think too many people outside the camp saw that performance there. But we were very, very determined. There was ferocious determination in the camp that we weren't going to let the season fizzle out after the Meath game.
It may have been difficult for Armagh not to listen to the outside noise where we were being written off and they were being written up. We know we have players who can perform here. The game Seán O'Shea had there, when that was a game in the first half and halfway through the second half, that man put in some display.
"I don't know what he finished up with. But him and David, David was really good again. Paudie coming in at half-time, he's a high-calibre player and it just gave everybody a lift. Once he got the ball in his hands, you knew he was going to do something with it. It's funny the way things happen.
"But we were fairly sure leaving the hotel this morning that we were going to give this a real rattle. We just need to steady up now and get our feet back on the ground. It's a big performance and a big Kerry support came up and backed the team, which is great. We love seeing that because a lot of people had us written off during the week.
"But obviously the supporters felt there was another kick in the team. They've seen it happen before. They saw it happen in 2006, they saw it happen in 2009. Kerry is a proud county and we weren't going to fizzle out of the Championship without a hell of a fight. We saw that fight out there today."
Kerry lost Tom O'Sullivan to injury in the first half, but O'Connor was pleased with his depth off the bench.
"Of course we were very disappointed to lose Tom and obviously he'll be in a race against time now. But that young fella from the Crokes there, Evan Looney, has been chomping at the bit in training and he acquitted himself very well. He won a vital kick out below under the Hill there when we needed to get our hands on the ball.
"But fellas stepped up. Micheál Burns had the game of his life when he came on there. He didn't play last weekend and he came on there today and showed that he's a big player for us."
The return of Paudie Clifford for a full half of football was a big positive for Kerry, as is the imminent return of more players from the treatment table.
"Look, they need a bit of time. Paul Geaney was close today but we'd only have thrown him in if the game was going away from us, a bit like Dublin did with Con O'Callaghan last night.
He's nearly there but not quite. The heart-warming thing for us was the way Paudie performed. As late as last Tuesday, it was touch-and-go that he'd be able to play but he just turned the corner.
The physios did great work with him. He turned the corner during the week.
"[Diarmuid O'Connor and Tony Brosnan] are not a million miles away so we'll assess it during the week and hope to be coming with a strong hand in two weeks."
Sean O'Shea had a massive game in Croker, scoring 0-12 in all, but O'Connor was more pleased with his leadership on the pitch.
He said: "He's just such a genuine young fella and just the way he speaks and the way he commands the dressing room. David is a one-off and he's just a massive talent.
"But Seánie is just a very mature young fella who commands the room and commands the group. We missed him more than anyone in the Meath game when he wasn't there. Not alone does he play well himself, he just commands the boys around him.
"He's the leader on the field. Taking nothing away from any of the rest of them, Gavin White or anything, Gavin was fantastic today, but Seánie is on a different level as regards leadership. He's the spiritual leader of that group."
O'Connor explained that his message to the Kerry side was to "flip the script".
"Look, when everybody even down in our own county was throwing in the towel with us, I said in the dressing room after the Cavan game, 'Lads, I've been here before where we've been completely written off.' And a Kerry team written off in Croke Park are dangerous because it just takes a bit of the heat off. It allows them to play with a kind of freedom and abandon.
"That's what you saw there today. Maybe it was very tough for Armagh. Our mantra this morning was we have to flip the script. The script has been written that Armagh have this game won and we have to flip that script.
"Every breaking ball you win, every turnover you win, every score you get is a chip off the block there and it's a way of flipping that script. We did it block by block."