WEDNESDAY WAS ABOUT bringing a flavour of home for the Irish crew in Geelong.
It was in the midst a pivotal week in the Australian sporting calendar, teams on the cusp of a new AFL season with the hope and anticipation of what lies ahead.
For all the pressure to get 2022 off to a positive start, the Cats sought to recognise their imports on the eve of 17 March.
“One of the lads organised it, they tried to get some Kerry, Laois and Mayo jerseys for us to celebrate St Patrick’s Day,” says Mark O’Connor.
“So they contacted Cotton On, a big sponsor of ours, and they simulated the jerseys for Zach and I, and Rachel Kearns. It was gas.”
The players viewed it as a nice moment of release before the serious stuff at the weekend. Yesterday saw a thumping victory over Essendon as Geelong exploded from the blocks in Round 1, racking up 138 points at the MCG and having 66 to spare over their opponents.
O’Connor missed out, his involvement curtailed by a minor knee issue. It won’t be too troublesome, he has his eye on a potential comeback for next Friday night against Sydney Swans.
“Just a bit of a flare up in my knee. It’s the fittest I’ve been in a while, got through a full pre-season. Hopefully that will hold me in good stead. Obviously the whole calendar changes for us around this time of year, it gets a bit easier on the body.”
An improvement in his fitness fortunes is to be welcomed. Last season was pockmarked by issues, O’Connor unable to get the clear road he wanted to drive into the season.
“That was off the back of having a very short pre-season. I came back in January (2021), I’d to do two weeks quarantine and then I picked up a foot injury, which kind of made me labour around in the first few rounds.
“I’ve no doubt all that kind of contributed to the hamstring (injuries). Thankfully now I’m fit and feeling very good. Feeling far more prepared this year than I was last year.”
So he’s viewing a new AFL campaign then with relish. January saw him turn 25, he is a world removed from the raw and wide-eyed teenager that first switched sporting careers from GAA to AFL in October 2016.
May will mark five years since his AFL debut.
“It’s pretty crazy to think about it now. Initially I didn’t really have the long-term plan in mind but just with the way things panned out and the way I blended in out here, it just seemed to be a good fit.
“Initially, certainly five years would have seemed ages away. There’s been a few injuries along the way too unfortunately, but five years is crazy to think about.”
He has plenty experience stockpiled and has grown in stature in the Geelong ranks with each passing season. The division of 65 AFL appearances is telling – two in 2017, five in 2018, 23 in 2019, 21 in 2020 and 14 in 2021. Only for injury the total would have been swelled further. He has a Grand Final appearance to his name from 2020 and saw the club reach the Preliminary Finals last year.
Being a long-term fixture means he has observed change as well. Two of his housemates, Charlie Constable and Oscar Brownless, were delisted in the recent off-season. The Irish contingent was shorn of a member when Stefan Okunbor moved back to Kerry last September.
“Even in the whole football department, there’s been a huge amount of changes. It is very cyclical. It’s an industry that they try and keep fresh and get new faces in every year. We’d a couple of physios and doctors move on, nutrionists, strength and conditioning staff.
“That’s a lot of new people to meet, coming back from Ireland when I did. Certainly this year’s been heaps of change but it’s been very fresh and new around the place. The people we brought in have been fantastic. It’s been good.”
He keeps an eye in monitoring sporting events at home. The contrast in climate was reinforced when he tuned into GAA GO last Saturday night, watching Austin Stack Park drenched in rain as Kerry toughed it out against Mayo.
“In the first few years I was out here, I didn’t watch as much football just because I thought it would drag me into a bit of homesickness. Thankfully I’ve been able to watch most of the league games this year and keep tabs.
“It’s very exciting time for Kerry and it was good to see the lads get a win agianst Mayo. The weather looked horrific and the Donegal game was shocking as well. The skill was still really good considering (the weather).”
The make-up of the current Kerry squad is striking. O’Connor was Kerry minor star for their 2014 and 2015 All-Ireland triumphs, he stepped up to play midfield for the U21 side in 2016.
This spring has seen 16 players who O’Connor counted as his underage team-mates, feature in Kerry’s league plans. Dan O’Donoghue, a 2014 minor colleague, has emerged as a strong defensive option, an example how the number has grown and O’Connor’s contemporaries are now the core of the senior setup.
“That’s always interesting to see. Even the likes of Graham O’Sullivan who played the other day, he wouldn’t have started on our minor team but he would have come on to make an impact. It’s great to see him breaking through into the Kerry team now.
“It’s funny the different paths taken. It probably makes me reflect a bit when I do see all the lads playing.”
That sense of familiarity extends to the management figures now populating the sidleine, his older minor boss Jack O’Connor and Dingle club-mate Diarmuid Murphy.
“It’s very good for the lads just to have Jack. His record speaks for itself. Obviously I know Diarmuid pretty well and he’s a very switched on man. He’s very good tactically and strategicallys. I’d have no doubt that Jack will steer them in the right direction.”
If there is one player he tracks closer than others, it is Tom O’Sullivan. They are lifelong friends, a pair who shone together on the football fields with Dingle underage wins, the Hogan Cup titles in the colours of PS Chorca Dhuibhne and the Kerry minor success.
Seeing O’Sullivan collect his second All-Star award last year, illustrative of his defensive excellence, was no surprise.
“We were involved in everything together. We were family friends as well, so best friends really since…forever. It was always a thing with Tom, he just had the massive potential with his speed and his mindset.
“We were kind of just wanting him to take the shackles off and attack teams and be damaging. The past couple of years in particular, the way he takes on the best forwards in the country. His mindset is to shut them down and not only that but get up and try kick a point or two. He’s always been good outside of the left foot in particular.
“I suppose something that’s not really tangible but you see it in the way he plays, it’s just his mindset, It’s been inspiring to watch him because I know how committed he is and how much he puts into it.”
Dingle never strays far from his thoughts, getting the chance to journey home last year after months of Covid chaos was greatly appreciated.
“The borders opened up here in November 1st, so I managed to get home for three or four weeks. I got very lucky, that was during our off season as well. Spent time with family, it was actually great timing as restrictions had been lifted around the. The last time I’d been home, it was a bit bleak with all that was happening. To be honest I’d pencilled it in that I wouldn’t be able to get home, so it was a great relief.
“The parents and brothers were delighted to see me, but as I normally say they’re probably happy to see me go as well!
“Just to spend time with familiar faces around the place, Dingle is always just comforting.”
He maintains the connection to his roots, unable to be present as much as he’d like or still line out in the club’s red and white colours, but lending support in other ways like their current fundraising drive to ‘Win A Home In Dingle’.
EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT- Its a fine day to 'Win a Home in Dingle'!
— CLG Daingean Uí Chúis (@DingleGAA) December 3, 2021
A chance to win a beautiful home in Dingle Town center worth €250k.
Buy your ticket for €100 on https://t.co/dP5BHjyrUo
Supporting @KerryHospice and clubhouse & 'community hub' plans for @DingleGAA. pic.twitter.com/8DN4ZoaUBr
“The fact that the club and the Kerry Hospice Foundation will benefit from it, that’s a win-win. I’ve entered and got a couple of the lads in Geelong to buy a ticket as well.
“It’s great to support the draw. For those abroad, they can put money towards good causes and also be in with a chance of winning a home in the Kingdom.”
His sporting future is a source of regular debate. Last summer he saw Kerry’s hopes thwarted by a familiar face, Conor McKenna igniting Tyrone’s championship after his days as an Essendon player have ended.
“Bittersweet kind of thing when they beat Kerry but certainly happy for him personally. He had mentioned it a few times how much he did want to go home and win All-Irelands with Tyrone. Fair play to him, he achieved what he wanted. It’s an incredible feat.”
For O’Connor, the focus is on the short-term. After all the interruptions to the sporting calendar over the past two years, the diligent observing of protocols, the change in having to gather in hubs as a squad for several weeks, a return to a customary Aussie Rules season will be welcomed.
“Personally you have to think short term. The goal for the team is always going to be the same, especially when we have been so close. I had a really good pre-season up until this little bump in the road, I’m just really keen to get back into game mode and just build again on last year.
“It feels like life is getting back to some normality, which is a welcome change.
“It’s been strange couple of years, especially with the hubs and all the uncertainty. It’s been fairly up and down. Hopefully we’re out the other side now.”
Originally published at 06.30
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- “Dingle GAA club has launched an exciting community fundraiser campaign – ‘Win a Home in Dingle’.
- The lucky winner of the raffle will become the proud owner of a beautiful home, valued at €250,000, mortgage-free, in the vibrant heart of Dingle town in County Kerry – one of the most sought-after locations in the world.
- All funds raised are being used to improve local community facilities and to support Kerry Hospice Foundation.
- The raffle is open to entrants worldwide and is capped at 12,000 tickets. Tickets cost €100 and can be purchased on www.winahomeindingle.com.”
