DINGLE MANAGER PADRAIG Corcoran is not planning to have AFL star Mark O’Connor available for their All-Ireland senior club semi-final in early January.
O’Connor’s influence at midfield was again key for Dingle today, this time helping them triumph in a thrilling Munster final clash.
Ten weeks after lining out in the MCG for Geelong Cats in the AFL Grand Final, when they lost out to Brisbane Lions, O’Connor tasted Munster glory with Dingle, following up from October’s Kerry final triumph.
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O’Connor has featured in four championship games for Dingle since returning from Australia – (Kerry semi-final against Mid Kerry, Kerry final against Austin Stacks, Munster semi-final against Mungret and Munster final against St Finbarr’s) – but Corcoran doesn’t expect him to be able to line out against Dublin’s Ballyboden St-Enda’s on the weekend of 3-4 January.
“I don’t know. It is extremely difficult on Mark, to be fair to him, because he is contracted to play with Geelong and they are all back for pre-season,” said Corcoran.
“I am not so sure how that would work out in terms of getting him back to Ireland. If it was a shorter trip and he was able to get home for a day or two, but it is longer trip and you are probably missing out on a week’s training. I wouldn’t think so, to be honest.”
Mark O'Connor in action for Dingle against St Finbarr's Rickey Barrett. James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
Fellow midfielder Barry Dan O’Sullivan, who tore his cruciate while in action for Kerry last summer, is not envisaged to make a comeback for the All-Ireland series.
“Ah no, Barry is out for another few months. He won’t make it. We’d love to have him, but unfortunately, no, we won’t have him.
“It is a huge task. I saw them (Ballyboden St-Enda’s) in that game (Leinster club final) last night. They have a huge team, a lot of players with inter-county experience. It is going to be a huge challenge for us, but it is something we are delighted to be involved in and we are so looking forward to it.”
After finally making the breakthrough to land a first Kerry title in 77 years, Corcoran hailed the achievement of his players in folowing that up in Munster.
“I think they are resilient. I think they showed huge mental toughness. They lost the Munster final in ’23, the club final in ’24 and the county final where we didn’t perform.
“You’d be asking questions. We asked a lot of hard questions last winter. The players were very honest, the management were very honest about it.
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“We rejigged a few things and I just think that bit of toughness and resilience has shone through over the county championship and int Munster.”
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Dingle not expecting to have AFL star O'Connor available for All-Ireland semi-final
DINGLE MANAGER PADRAIG Corcoran is not planning to have AFL star Mark O’Connor available for their All-Ireland senior club semi-final in early January.
O’Connor’s influence at midfield was again key for Dingle today, this time helping them triumph in a thrilling Munster final clash.
Ten weeks after lining out in the MCG for Geelong Cats in the AFL Grand Final, when they lost out to Brisbane Lions, O’Connor tasted Munster glory with Dingle, following up from October’s Kerry final triumph.
O’Connor has featured in four championship games for Dingle since returning from Australia – (Kerry semi-final against Mid Kerry, Kerry final against Austin Stacks, Munster semi-final against Mungret and Munster final against St Finbarr’s) – but Corcoran doesn’t expect him to be able to line out against Dublin’s Ballyboden St-Enda’s on the weekend of 3-4 January.
“I don’t know. It is extremely difficult on Mark, to be fair to him, because he is contracted to play with Geelong and they are all back for pre-season,” said Corcoran.
“I am not so sure how that would work out in terms of getting him back to Ireland. If it was a shorter trip and he was able to get home for a day or two, but it is longer trip and you are probably missing out on a week’s training. I wouldn’t think so, to be honest.”
Fellow midfielder Barry Dan O’Sullivan, who tore his cruciate while in action for Kerry last summer, is not envisaged to make a comeback for the All-Ireland series.
“Ah no, Barry is out for another few months. He won’t make it. We’d love to have him, but unfortunately, no, we won’t have him.
“It is a huge task. I saw them (Ballyboden St-Enda’s) in that game (Leinster club final) last night. They have a huge team, a lot of players with inter-county experience. It is going to be a huge challenge for us, but it is something we are delighted to be involved in and we are so looking forward to it.”
After finally making the breakthrough to land a first Kerry title in 77 years, Corcoran hailed the achievement of his players in folowing that up in Munster.
“I think they are resilient. I think they showed huge mental toughness. They lost the Munster final in ’23, the club final in ’24 and the county final where we didn’t perform.
“You’d be asking questions. We asked a lot of hard questions last winter. The players were very honest, the management were very honest about it.
“We rejigged a few things and I just think that bit of toughness and resilience has shone through over the county championship and int Munster.”
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AFL club Dingle GAA Mark O'Connor Munster Wizard of Oz