HE WAS THE man who ushered Eamonn Fitzmaurice into the world of GAA senior management and he’s now profiting himself from Fitzmaurice’s coaching acumen.
Jack O’Connor managed Fitzmaurice as a player and then after the Finuge man’s retirement in 2007, he brought him in to the Kerry camp as a selector in 2009.
He observed the influential role Fitzmaurice played in helping map Kerry’s route to All-Ireland glory that season. Five years on, O’Connor is watching Fitzmaurice fill the manager hotseat with distinction as Kerry get set to contest Sunday’s All-Ireland senior decider.
O’Connor has benefited himself this year from the Kerry senior manager’s coaching record. Last April, Fitzmaurice guided Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne to the Hogan Cup. A clutch of those players have gone on to be instrumental in the progress of O’Connor’s Kerry minor team that also feature in an All-Ireland decider on Sunday against Donegal.
“He was always a good thinker on the game, he had leadership qualities, a very steady lad,” remarks O’Connor. “I brought him in in ’09, the year I came back for the second stint. He was a great help to me and he learned a lot that year.
“He would have done the video analysis, so he learned a lot in those two years, ’09 and 2010. Then he went off with the U21′s for a year so he got a good apprenticeship. He wasn’t a novice when he came in and he is doing a great job.”
Colleges
O’Connor is familiar with colleges football scene. He trained Coláiste na Sceilge to three successive Corn Uí Mhuirí crowns between 2001 and 2003 before guiding the school to All-Ireland glory when they claimed the Hogan Cup in 2009.
This year he has seen Fitzmaurice attain a similar feat with PS Chorca Dhuibhne players Briain Ó Beaglaoích, Tom O’Sullivan, Barry O’Sullivan, Mark O’Connor, Matthew Flaherty, Brian Rayle, Tomás Ó Sé, Cathal Bambury, Conor Geaney and Roibeárd Ó Sé now all part of the Kerry minor squad.
“That’s a great training ground as well, that’s where I kind of started off myself, with the colleges,” says O’Connor. “You can do your work there and try things out. We’d often have discussions about new drills and he’d say ‘we’ll try it out with the lads at school and see how it works.’
“If you are plonked into training inter-county teams as your first job that can be difficult. You have to make your mistakes away from the bright lights.”
The current optimism pervading Kerry football is in stark contrast to the pessimism earlier this year as the team tried to cope with the retirements of long-serving warriors, patchy league displays and the stark realisation that Colm Cooper’s cruciate would steal him from Kerry for the season.
But O’Connor doesn’t subscribe to the theory that those setbacks meant Kerry fans would be patient and accept that a transitional phase was in the offing.
“There’s no such thing as rebuilding in Kerry. You’ve to try to go out to win the All-Ireland every year. There’s no such thing as transition. Certainly it’s great to see all the new blood on the team.
“There’s still a hardcore of established fellas on the team. There’s a right good mix there. In general, you’d have to say those two (Mayo) games will really stand to Kerry going into the final.”
