THE SEASON MIGHT have ended in August for Austin Stacks and Joe O’Connor, but the Kerry dynamo is in no rush to see the imminent return of the McGrath Cup.
With the GAA’s pre-season tournaments coming back for 2026, O’Connor wasn’t exactly bubbling with enthusiasm.
“Not right now,” he said to a Kerry return to the McGrath Cup.
“I think just leave it the way it is, just train away and get the body right for the league.”
Pressed on his unusual stance – players in such situations are more inclined to give a pat answer, O’Connor explained, “I just think there’s enough competitions and it’s probably a time where players can just focus on getting a preseason in.
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“If it was there, I’m sure it wouldn’t be a big issue as a couple of games to get you ready for the league. It’s nice to just have a block where you can focus on training.”
Kerry will be taking their team holiday a bit earlier than usual, in late October, and O’Connor will have an uninterrupted run-in to the 2026 season where he will hope to continue the sort of form that has him in the running for the Footballer of the Year award.
The confirmation that Jack O’Connor is staying on as manager has been greeted warmly by his namesake Joe.
“Yeah, I suppose we’d a new enough team this year, with the selectors (Cian O’Neill, Aodán MacGearailt and James Costello) coming in. Things worked fairly well for us. There was a nice, fresh feeling down there so we were all keen to get them back, so it is great.”
Asked what was different about the new management team, he added, “Yeah, I found them excellent. From the word go, they were just really helpful in terms of bringing on individual players, creating a real atmosphere for learning in the group, making sure we were growing every week, which was great for us, challenging us, things like that.
“It has been great. We’d ups and downs too, they stuck with us. We backed them and it was a great year looking back.”
Asked as to what lies behind the greatness of his manager, he answered, “I don’t know. You probably see that he has good experience dealing with players and dealing with big days out.
“You really feel that as a player when he’s calm and composed around the big days. He just backs us on game days to do what we can do.
“It’s hard to single out things that he’s excellent at, but I suppose he has that calming effect on the players and really makes you want to play well and express yourself and play without the shackles.”
* Joe O’Connor was speaking to the media for a launch of Safefoods’, ‘Fuel your Game,’ a new healthy eating resource developed by Safefood in partnership with Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs, for juvenile players, parents, and coaches.
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Joe O'Connor not fussed on a return of GAA pre-season competitions
THE SEASON MIGHT have ended in August for Austin Stacks and Joe O’Connor, but the Kerry dynamo is in no rush to see the imminent return of the McGrath Cup.
With the GAA’s pre-season tournaments coming back for 2026, O’Connor wasn’t exactly bubbling with enthusiasm.
“Not right now,” he said to a Kerry return to the McGrath Cup.
“I think just leave it the way it is, just train away and get the body right for the league.”
Pressed on his unusual stance – players in such situations are more inclined to give a pat answer, O’Connor explained, “I just think there’s enough competitions and it’s probably a time where players can just focus on getting a preseason in.
“If it was there, I’m sure it wouldn’t be a big issue as a couple of games to get you ready for the league. It’s nice to just have a block where you can focus on training.”
Kerry will be taking their team holiday a bit earlier than usual, in late October, and O’Connor will have an uninterrupted run-in to the 2026 season where he will hope to continue the sort of form that has him in the running for the Footballer of the Year award.
The confirmation that Jack O’Connor is staying on as manager has been greeted warmly by his namesake Joe.
“Yeah, I suppose we’d a new enough team this year, with the selectors (Cian O’Neill, Aodán MacGearailt and James Costello) coming in. Things worked fairly well for us. There was a nice, fresh feeling down there so we were all keen to get them back, so it is great.”
Asked what was different about the new management team, he added, “Yeah, I found them excellent. From the word go, they were just really helpful in terms of bringing on individual players, creating a real atmosphere for learning in the group, making sure we were growing every week, which was great for us, challenging us, things like that.
“It has been great. We’d ups and downs too, they stuck with us. We backed them and it was a great year looking back.”
Asked as to what lies behind the greatness of his manager, he answered, “I don’t know. You probably see that he has good experience dealing with players and dealing with big days out.
“You really feel that as a player when he’s calm and composed around the big days. He just backs us on game days to do what we can do.
“It’s hard to single out things that he’s excellent at, but I suppose he has that calming effect on the players and really makes you want to play well and express yourself and play without the shackles.”
* Joe O’Connor was speaking to the media for a launch of Safefoods’, ‘Fuel your Game,’ a new healthy eating resource developed by Safefood in partnership with Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs, for juvenile players, parents, and coaches.
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GAA Joe O'Connor Kerry McGrath Cup