THE FIRST THING that Jack O’Connor did when he became Kerry manager was to enforce a different regime from what went before under Páidí Ó Sé.
O’Connor had done his due diligence. He had got into his car and met Ulster coaches, one of them the late John Morrison. He sat down to find out what exactly Ulster teams had over Kerry, between the All-Ireland final defeat to Armagh in 2002, or the semi-final against Tyrone the following year.
The conversations went deep into tactical territory. Some Kerry football people might come out in a rash at the thought of taking lessons from Ulster men.
But one thing would have to happen. Kerry players would now be lifting weights.
Not in ad-hoc, do-it-if-you-fancy way. But in a checks and balances fashion, under the new physical trainer, Pat Flanagan.
The team were soon away to Lanzarote for a warm-weather training camp in the winter. The first run-out was a challenge match a week before the start of the league, against Galway in Sixmilebridge. Kerry were stuffed.
Their opening round of the 2004 league was away to Longford. The home side squeezed through, 3-7 to 1-12.
That day, Colm Cooper was recuperating from a groin injury and didn’t have travel, so he spent his afternoon at a club game.
Once the result came through, he could hear the chat around him.
‘You’re fucking kidding…’
‘Jesus Christ, where are Kerry headed?’
From Cooper’s autobiography, you got a sense of where Jack was at. None of this will come as a surprise.
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“Jack’s a stubborn type who knew he was in a war zone here. You see, he’s not one of what he calls ‘the golden circle’ and reckoned, because of that, he wasn’t really rated. His immediate predecessors as Kerry managers were all on first-name terms with the Kerry public. We’d gone from Micko to Ogie to Páidí.
“Now, we’d Jack O’Connor from Toorsaleen in the south of the county, who kept being reminded that he was manager of a Kerry U21 team that lost a Munster final to Waterford.”
That’s how it started.
On the line for his first competitive game in charge of Kerry - a league defeat to Longford. INPHO
INPHO
Where does he stand now, this outsider who had that Waterford result cast up in his face back then?
The week he was appointed was the same week his mother died, in October 2003. Her words of advice to him at the time were, “Johneen a chroí, don’t take that job at all, they’ll only be giving out to you,”
He now sits third on the overall roll of honour of All-Ireland winning managers. Top of the tree is Mick O’Dwyer with eight. Jim Gavin has six. O’Connor has five, from three different spells as manager.
That puts him ahead of Kevin Heffernan and Mickey Harte, both on three.
It’s fair to say that recognition has taken a long time to land.
In a book called ‘Bainisteoir – The 10 Greatest GAA Managers’ published in 2009, he didn’t get a mention although he had three All-Irelands to his name at that point.
It’s far from a secret that if he didn’t enjoy convivial relationships with the Kerry Cognoscenti, he had to work with three Ó Sé players in his first two spells and it was far from plain sailing.
Initially, the difficulty came from the axing of their uncle Páidí, who wanted to stay on at the end of 2003 but the Kerry county board had other ideas.
It was in his second spell when it came to a head. In the meantime, O’Connor had published his autobiography ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ which was a fascinating, fly-on-the-wall account of his first spell, including the moments he wasn’t sure if Darragh, Tomás and Marc Ó Sé had fully bought into the post-Páidí era.
The first year back, 2009, was particularly problematic.
That summer, they found themselves in the backdoor. After defeating Sligo in a lacklustre event in Tralee, Colm Cooper headed for a few drinks, though he kept his eyes trained on the golf on the television in the bar rather than seek out company.
Marc and Tomás headed for a few at a wedding in Dingle, and followed it up the following day.
When O’Connor called up Marc, he had a statement, rather than a question. He had been drinking and he had been spotted. He had a credible witness.
Marc’s approach was to double down on a lie, responding, ‘Jack, you put that fella in front of me and I’ll call him a liar. I wasn’t drinking.’
In the end it was Tomás and Cooper dropped for the next game against Antrim in Tullamore, later sent on. The year finished with an All-Ireland, so all was sweet again.
With Colm Cooper after Kerry beat Antrim, 2009. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
It’s Darragh’s stinging criticism that still gets to O’Connor now. His column with the Irish Times has frequently landed some ramrod jabs, not least when he made a comment that Kerry wanted to be put out of their misery after defeat to Meath last summer.
After their stunning quarter-final win over Armagh a few weeks later, O’Connor had the platform to respond. And respond he did.
“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?” he asked.
O'Connor with Darragh Ó Sé in different times, 2006. Andrew Paton / INPHO
Andrew Paton / INPHO / INPHO
“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, U21s, 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 not just cheap talk.
He ended his second spell in charge with the quarter-final defeat to Donegal in 2012. Ten minutes into the second half he took off Declan O’Sullivan for Kieran O’Leary, something that did not play well in his home club of Dromid Pearses.
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What he did next was go back down into the mire and coach underage teams in his and O’Sullivan’s home club.
Within two years, he was back with the Kerry minors, helping them to two All-Ireland titles.
In 2026, he has had his trials, not least the hammering Donegal handed them in Killarney.
Despite that, he has looked more composed than ever. As if all the lessons and experience have come together in this season.
He already had an effective backroom team, however long it took to assemble, and has added to it with Pa McCarthy and Kieran Donaghy.
This All-Ireland final build-up has featured a number of Kerry voices describing how the coaching mimics a rugby set-up with different coaches responsible for their own areas.
O’Connor then is more of an overseer; able to utilise his vast experience of All-Ireland finals to keep players in a certain frame of mind and relaxed. James Costello even talked about how O’Connor has been much more craic than he was expecting.
All-Ireland number 40 beckons for Kerry. All-Ireland number six beckons for O’Connor.
He’s long past the stage of needing friends, not with that level of success.
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Experience and wisdom have merged to create Jack O'Connor, Version 3.0
THE FIRST THING that Jack O’Connor did when he became Kerry manager was to enforce a different regime from what went before under Páidí Ó Sé.
O’Connor had done his due diligence. He had got into his car and met Ulster coaches, one of them the late John Morrison. He sat down to find out what exactly Ulster teams had over Kerry, between the All-Ireland final defeat to Armagh in 2002, or the semi-final against Tyrone the following year.
The conversations went deep into tactical territory. Some Kerry football people might come out in a rash at the thought of taking lessons from Ulster men.
But one thing would have to happen. Kerry players would now be lifting weights.
Not in ad-hoc, do-it-if-you-fancy way. But in a checks and balances fashion, under the new physical trainer, Pat Flanagan.
The team were soon away to Lanzarote for a warm-weather training camp in the winter. The first run-out was a challenge match a week before the start of the league, against Galway in Sixmilebridge. Kerry were stuffed.
Their opening round of the 2004 league was away to Longford. The home side squeezed through, 3-7 to 1-12.
That day, Colm Cooper was recuperating from a groin injury and didn’t have travel, so he spent his afternoon at a club game.
Once the result came through, he could hear the chat around him.
‘You’re fucking kidding…’
‘Jesus Christ, where are Kerry headed?’
From Cooper’s autobiography, you got a sense of where Jack was at. None of this will come as a surprise.
“Jack’s a stubborn type who knew he was in a war zone here. You see, he’s not one of what he calls ‘the golden circle’ and reckoned, because of that, he wasn’t really rated. His immediate predecessors as Kerry managers were all on first-name terms with the Kerry public. We’d gone from Micko to Ogie to Páidí.
“Now, we’d Jack O’Connor from Toorsaleen in the south of the county, who kept being reminded that he was manager of a Kerry U21 team that lost a Munster final to Waterford.”
That’s how it started.
Where does he stand now, this outsider who had that Waterford result cast up in his face back then?
The week he was appointed was the same week his mother died, in October 2003. Her words of advice to him at the time were, “Johneen a chroí, don’t take that job at all, they’ll only be giving out to you,”
He now sits third on the overall roll of honour of All-Ireland winning managers. Top of the tree is Mick O’Dwyer with eight. Jim Gavin has six. O’Connor has five, from three different spells as manager.
That puts him ahead of Kevin Heffernan and Mickey Harte, both on three.
It’s fair to say that recognition has taken a long time to land.
In a book called ‘Bainisteoir – The 10 Greatest GAA Managers’ published in 2009, he didn’t get a mention although he had three All-Irelands to his name at that point.
It’s far from a secret that if he didn’t enjoy convivial relationships with the Kerry Cognoscenti, he had to work with three Ó Sé players in his first two spells and it was far from plain sailing.
Initially, the difficulty came from the axing of their uncle Páidí, who wanted to stay on at the end of 2003 but the Kerry county board had other ideas.
It was in his second spell when it came to a head. In the meantime, O’Connor had published his autobiography ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ which was a fascinating, fly-on-the-wall account of his first spell, including the moments he wasn’t sure if Darragh, Tomás and Marc Ó Sé had fully bought into the post-Páidí era.
The first year back, 2009, was particularly problematic.
That summer, they found themselves in the backdoor. After defeating Sligo in a lacklustre event in Tralee, Colm Cooper headed for a few drinks, though he kept his eyes trained on the golf on the television in the bar rather than seek out company.
Marc and Tomás headed for a few at a wedding in Dingle, and followed it up the following day.
When O’Connor called up Marc, he had a statement, rather than a question. He had been drinking and he had been spotted. He had a credible witness.
Marc’s approach was to double down on a lie, responding, ‘Jack, you put that fella in front of me and I’ll call him a liar. I wasn’t drinking.’
In the end it was Tomás and Cooper dropped for the next game against Antrim in Tullamore, later sent on. The year finished with an All-Ireland, so all was sweet again.
It’s Darragh’s stinging criticism that still gets to O’Connor now. His column with the Irish Times has frequently landed some ramrod jabs, not least when he made a comment that Kerry wanted to be put out of their misery after defeat to Meath last summer.
After their stunning quarter-final win over Armagh a few weeks later, O’Connor had the platform to respond. And respond he did.
“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?” he asked.
“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, U21s, 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 not just cheap talk.
He ended his second spell in charge with the quarter-final defeat to Donegal in 2012. Ten minutes into the second half he took off Declan O’Sullivan for Kieran O’Leary, something that did not play well in his home club of Dromid Pearses.
What he did next was go back down into the mire and coach underage teams in his and O’Sullivan’s home club.
Within two years, he was back with the Kerry minors, helping them to two All-Ireland titles.
In 2026, he has had his trials, not least the hammering Donegal handed them in Killarney.
Despite that, he has looked more composed than ever. As if all the lessons and experience have come together in this season.
He already had an effective backroom team, however long it took to assemble, and has added to it with Pa McCarthy and Kieran Donaghy.
This All-Ireland final build-up has featured a number of Kerry voices describing how the coaching mimics a rugby set-up with different coaches responsible for their own areas.
O’Connor then is more of an overseer; able to utilise his vast experience of All-Ireland finals to keep players in a certain frame of mind and relaxed. James Costello even talked about how O’Connor has been much more craic than he was expecting.
All-Ireland number 40 beckons for Kerry. All-Ireland number six beckons for O’Connor.
He’s long past the stage of needing friends, not with that level of success.
*****
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All-Ireland bainisteoir GAA Jack O'Connor Kerry