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100 days of Jack O’Connor

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4 years ago

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Kerry manager Jack O'Connor. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile. Artwork: Adam Moynihan.

Our sports editor Adam Moynihan analyses the first 100 days of Jack O'Connor's third spell as Kerry manager.

The McGrath Cup isn’t exactly the acid test – it has been distinctly alkaline so far, truth be told – but Jack O’Connor’s feet are now firmly beneath his desk. It’s hard to believe but he has already put down his first 100 days as Kerry’s manager. I think that gives us the green light to start analysing the poor man to within an inch of his life, as is the custom in these parts.

Kerry have played just two preseason games during O’Connor’s third stint but there is still plenty to pore over. (And if there wasn’t we’d find something, says you.)

THE BEGINNING

Going back as far as Day 1, and even before that, there was significant controversy surrounding his appointment. O’Connor was officially ratified on October 4 but he appeared to publicly flirt with the idea of returning to The Kingdom on an Irish Examiner podcast in August. Some people felt that this was disrespectful to Peter Keane – Kerry had just been knocked out of the championship by Tyrone - and O’Connor later admitted that his comments were “naïve”.

However, I wouldn’t personally go along with this idea that Jack O’Connor ought to have been more mindful of Peter Keane in this situation. The two were competitors in a very competitive field and Keane was technically no longer the Kerry manager after the Tyrone defeat because his term was up. If a journalist asks Jack O’Connor if there is an “allure”, why should he lie and say there isn’t?

The interview process that followed drew sharp criticism in some quarters, particularly amongst Keane supporters, because there was a perception that O’Connor was the preferred candidate before he, Keane and Stephen Stack were interviewed. So what if he was? Complete impartiality is impossible in this kind of scenario. The candidates are known to the board, so some sort of bias is inevitable.

That doesn’t mean they were wrong to meet with Keane and Stack. If Keane was turfed out without getting the chance to make his case, his supporters would have been livid over that as well. There is no nice way to lose a job, particularly one that is as prestigious and coveted as the Kerry gig.

Off The Ball AM went one step further and, quoting an unnamed source, alleged that O’Connor had been hired even before the interview process had started. If true, that would have been a different story. That would be completely unfair and a real slap in the face for Keane and Stack and their respective teams. But the accusations were denied in the strongest terms by outgoing chair Tim Murphy, and OTB AM later apologised for their “groundless, false, and incorrect” claims.

The bottom line, when you sidestep all the politics and gossip, is that Keane was given a three-year term and Kerry were knocked out of the championship by underdogs in Years 2 and 3. No Kerry manager has ever survived such a sequence. There was appetite for change and the board acted.

Only time will tell if they made the right decision by opting for Jack O’Connor. He will be judged by his results, just like every Kerry bainisteoir before him.

LEAVING KILDARE

O’Connor faced some more understandable criticism over the manner in which he left his previous post in Kildare. From the outside looking in, it did appear as though he left them high and dry, but he subsequently explained that he hadn’t actually committed to The Lilywhites for 2022. In fact, he had “more or less” made his mind up that he would be standing aside.

“This thing that I left Kildare because I was asked to manage Kerry or that it was a done deal is absolute and total nonsense,” the Dromid man said. The commute was taking its toll and his management team had largely disbanded.

Even if he had another year with Kildare in the tank, the reality is that no Kerry-born intercounty manager is going to turn down Kerry if the opportunity arises.

CALL-UPS

Now, down to the real business of assembling a squad. Whereas previous regimes were condemned for sometimes overlooking players who were performing well for their clubs, O’Connor has taken a different approach.

Three Austin Stacks players – Dylan Casey, Jack O’Shea and Greg Horan – were drafted in on the back of the Rockies’ heroics in the County Championship. Two more of last season’s most eye-catching club players, Andrew Barry and Jack Savage, were also added to the panel.

Dan O’Donoghue and Darragh Roche both starred for East Kerry in their title-winning campaigns in 2019 and 2020. One could argue that they both might have been looked at sooner.

Elsewhere, goalkeeper Shane Murphy was recalled after being dropped by Peter Keane in 2018. Shane Ryan has done well over the past three seasons but there has been a nagging feeling in the county that Murphy and his unique attributes, particularly when kicking from the tee, might merit a recall. Clearly, Jack O’Connor is of the same mind.

There is also great excitement amongst Kerry fans surrounding the return of Stefan Okunbor. The former Geelong Cats player had made just a couple of appearances for Na Gaeil and St Brendan’s when O’Connor’s first panel was drawn up, but Okunbor was included anyway. He started at midfield in the first McGrath Cup game against Limerick and his eye-catching fetch from the throw-in left those of a green and gold persuasion rubbing their hands with glee.

THE KERRY WAY

There’s no denying that we consider ourselves to be the aristocrats of Gaelic football down here in Kerry. We demand that our senior footballers play the “Kerry way”. This “traditional” style of attack apparently includes plenty of kicking and catching, conveniently ignoring the fact that our best ever team was built around the handpass.

Nevertheless, we do enjoy a fast, direct game, and if the opening two matches in the McGrath Cup are anything to go by, Jack O’Connor intends to deliver on that front.

So far it has been an obvious tactic to get the ball into the hands of the team’s best passers – Paudie Clifford, Seán O’Shea and nominal corner back Tom O’Sullivan – and allow them to spray long, accurate passes into the full forward line.

O’Sullivan in particular appears to be operating as a free man and playmaker, taking advantage of the fact that most opponents drop an extra player back in defence.

This tactic has worked so far with Paul Geaney and Killian Spillane reaping the rewards in the opening preseason fixtures. That has certainly been encouraging. Whether or not the approach will continue to function as well when things get serious remains to be seen.

PLAYER WELFARE

One of the biggest talking points from O’Connor’s first 100 days arrived on the 100th day itself. Last Wednesday night up in Templetuohy, Co. Tipperary, Tony Brosnan and Jack Savage entered the fray as second-half substitutes. The problem? They had lined out earlier that same day for MTU Kerry in their Sigerson Cup victory over UCD. Another MTU Kerry player, Paul O’Shea, was also named on the Kerry panel, but he did not feature against Tipp.

O’Connor’s decision to play Brosnan and Savage just hours after they had finished another match in a different county was rightly called into question. After all, player welfare is a hot button topic and surely there is no shortage of footballers in the county who would be delighted to receive a call-up.

There were mitigating factors, though. Kerry were missing 14 players due to club and college commitments. Without the MTU Kerry trio, they would have travelled to Tipperary with just 20 players. While it should be possible to find replacements, even at short notice, perhaps O’Connor was keen to keep the circle small, so to speak. Particularly with Covid so rampant.

The Kerry boss also indicated that the players were left to decide for themselves if they wanted to play. You might say, well, a fella scrapping to get on the Kerry team is hardly going to say “no”, and that’s a fair enough point to make. Who knows, maybe O’Connor was testing the players to see if they were willing to go above and beyond?

Either way, it’s not something I’d like to see happening again, although in this instance there was no harm done.

GOOD VIBES

By and large, O’Connor has made popular choices up to this point and the mood on the street is positive. Victory over Cork on Saturday in front of a healthy home crowd will add to those good vibes, and with that in mind he is likely to name a strong starting lineup.

But, as the man himself knows all too well, the temperature will gradually increase over the next 100 days or so. O’Connor’s third coming will ultimately be judged in the boiling heat of championship action.

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Lakers aiming to secure first win at home to Malahide

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1 week ago

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17 October 2025

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The Utility Trust St Paul’s Lakers will be hoping for a turn of fortunes this weekend after suffering a defeat in Week 2 of the 2025/26 National League season.

The club’s men’s team came up short in Jordanstown against the University of Ulster (91-70) having trailed by just four points heading into the final quarter. There were some positives – mainly the form of Steve Kelly, Sam Grant and Mark Sheehan – but head coach Luke O’Hea will be eager to pick up his first win of the Division 1 campaign at home to Malahide on Saturday. Tip-off at Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre is at 7.30pm.

Malahide have also lost both of their opening two matches, to Drogheda and Portlaoise.

Meanwhile, James Fleming’s women’s team maintained their 100% Super League record by beating the Panthers in Portlaoise on a scoreline of 62-72. The Killarney girls raced into an early lead but they had to weather a storm in the second half as the Panthers rallied admirably.

Maisie Burnham led the St Paul’s charge early doors with Lovisa Hevinder, Lorraine Scanlon and Leah McMahon making important contributions as the game wore on, but it was Tara Cousins who really made her mark in the fourth quarter, racking up 16 crucial points. Each one was significant as Paul’s tried to keep the Panthers at bay – in fact, the American guard registered her team’s final 10 points of the game to help secure a hard-fought 10-point victory.

“It was a good win on the road,” Hevinder told club PRO Enda Walshe. “Portlaoise is always a tough place to play and a difficult team to play against. I think we did a great job defensively, and at times we had really good flow on offence.”

Like their male counterparts, the St Paul’s women have a home game at Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre tomorrow. They host Munster rivals Fr Mathews with the tie tipping off at 4pm. Mathews are seeking their first win of the season.

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Killarney Athletic stalwart Donie does it for the love of the game

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1 week ago

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17 October 2025

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Ahead of Killarney Athletic’s 60th anniversary, Adam Moynihan spoke to club stalwart and current chairman Donie Murphy about his passion for soccer (and the Blues)

Donie, Athletic have a big milestone coming up. Sixty years in existence. How and when did you first come to be involved with the club?

I joined the club in the 1974/75 season as an 18-year-old, so I have 50 years done. People think I didn’t play with anyone else but I joined from Woodlawn Rovers, which was a team made up of a group of friends who used to play down in Billy Doyle’s place at the back of Woodlawn. When that team disbanded, 90% of the boys joined Killarney Athletic. The rest is history, as they say. I didn’t move anywhere else after that.

What sort of footballer were you?

I would consider myself a whole-hearted player. I had a bit of pace. Not an awful lot of skill, but good in the air. I was committed and I expected much the same from everybody else. I played centre back all my career except for one game when I was coming back from injury and I was thrown up centre forward for the B team.

And? How did it go?

One game, one goal [laughs]. I had a 100% record.

Who were some of Athletic’s best players that you lined out with?

You had the likes of Brian McCarthy Senior, Denny Hayes, Pat Moynihan, Connie Doc, Pat Shea… You could throw Mikey Sullivan in there as well. He was a whole-hearted player.

What was the highlight of your playing career?

Well, we were runners-up and beaten finalists in a lot of things, but the one thing we did win was the Munster Junior Cup Kerry Area. It was a big thing at the time. We beat Tralee United 1-0. On the other end of the scale we had a relegation battle over in Castleisland. We had to win and we did, 1-0. We were mean enough in defence. Other than that, I played with the Kerry District League in the Oscar Traynor Cup for a couple of seasons, which was nice as well.

When did you hang up the boots?
I stopped playing with Athletic in 1990. But, of course, there was the Killarney Athletic 7-a-side then as well and I played in the over 35s for a few years after that.

You must have fond memories of the 7-a-side, going all the way back to the start in 1976?

The memories are great. Well, for the first tournament in 1976, Brian McCarthy refereed all the games and I was his sidekick. So I didn’t play, I was running the show while he was reffing. But I played with Killarney Hardware for many years alongside Connie Doc, Pat Shea, Seánie Shea… And DD Mulcahy and Dan Leary from Rathmore.

It would have been staged in the Áras Phádraig at the time. What was that like, for those who weren’t around back then?

Ah, it was unbelievable. We had 74 teams one year with every game being played on the one pitch. So it went on for nearly three months of the summer, because it had to. Everyone who was there saw every game. It is handier in Woodlawn, it takes half the time, but up in the Áras, you could see everything. You couldn’t replicate that atmosphere anywhere else. It was like a cauldron.

When did you first coach an underage team? Do you know how many teams you have trained down through the years?

I couldn’t tell you how many but I’ve been involved with a team every year since I started. I took a Community Games team in 1976 and I did that for a few years. And after that it was Killarney Athletic underage teams. I’m not training a team now but I am involved with the U5s and U6s. Now that is tough going [laughs].

So you’re coming up on 50 years of coaching underage teams? That’s a lot of players…

It’s a lot of players, and it’s a lot of names and faces to remember. Christmas in Killarney is a disaster. There are so many fellas away and they come back for Christmas and they’re saying, “Hey, Donie, how’re things?” I probably didn’t change a lot in the last 30 years, but they did!

What’s your coaching philosophy?

My philosophy is that communication is very important. Everybody should have a voice. I don’t like talking down to anybody. Once I can communicate my ideas to the kids and they buy into it, that’s the big thing. It’s fine going down training and doing the drills but sometimes they just need to be spoken to.

What is it about working with kids that you enjoy?

First of all, it’s the love of the game. But I do prefer to take – I won’t say underdogs – but maybe a B team, and see can I get them better than what they were. Rather than taking a team of stars who are going to be pretty good anyway, I like to bring on the next category of players. That’s what I measure myself against. Within a season, are we better against an opponent in the reverse fixture than we were the first time we played them? I like to see players that are maybe ‘middle of the road’ improving.

Do you find the kids easy or difficult to manage? Do many of them have long-term aspirations of playing professional football?

In general I’ve always found the kids to be great. Boys and girls. I think the girls listen a bit more than the boys [laughs]. Diarmuid O’Carroll and Brendan Moloney have shown that it is possible to go pro. And now Luke Doolan is with Kerry FC. He’s a man who might make it, and he came all the way up along through the ranks. So it is possible.

Do you watch a lot of soccer in your free time?

I do. My wife (Marie) will probably tell me I watch too much soccer. I’m an avid Spurs fan. But I do like to watch other sports as well to switch off.

How would you describe Killarney Athletic’s rivalry with Killarney Celtic?

In the early days it used to be a kind of friendly rivalry. But I think it’s more than friendship now! I would say it’s fierce. We both have so many teams, we’re playing each other at some age grade nearly every single weekend. You always want to win those games. But even going back to my playing days, if you never won another game, the Celtic game was the one you wanted to win. You have to win the derby game for bragging rights. Unfortunately they’ve have had a little bit more bragging rights than us lately but, you know yourself, the wheel might turn, hopefully.

How different is the soccer scene in Kerry today compared to when you first became involved?

There’s no comparison, really. It’s the pitches and the facilities that are the big thing. When I started playing, it was below in the Half Moon field (near Killarney House). It was a case of: jump the wall, put up the goals, line the pitch, play the game, take down the goals… Everything had to be put away. No dressing rooms or anything like that. But now with the facilities we have at the moment, if you haven’t everything in order for them, they’re not happy [laughs].

But the facilities and the all-weather training pitch help the club grow. We have a lot more teams now, going all down the ages, and obviously there’s a lot more coaching going on as well. The kids get into a system of playing, which is good.

Looking back over all your time at the club, what are your fondest Killarney Athletic memories?

For me it’s the people and the players you meet, and the friends you make. My involvement with Athletic has given me lifelong friends. That’s the best thing about it.

You must be looking forward to the club’s 60th celebration dinner?

I am. It’s a big night for the club and it’s a great opportunity to catch up with people you might not have met for a while. There will definitely be a bit of nostalgia. It’s also a great way for people to support the club. We’re developing a new pitch on a piece of land adjacent to our current pitch, so a percentage of ticket sales is going towards that project. Our 50th was a big celebration and a lot of things have happened since then. We have doubled in size membership-wise and girls now make up around 33% of the club. We’re hoping to go from strength to strength.

And, sadly, some of our club members have passed away since the last anniversary so they’ll be remembered on the night as well.

What are your hopes for the future of Killarney Athletic?

There are a lot of great people volunteering in the club so I don’t have any worries about the future. They will take the club onto the next level. Of course I hope we continue to win trophies, but most of all I hope the people involved, be they players or coaches or officers, will enjoy the experience. Everything else will follow after that.

The Killarney Athletic 60th Celebration Dinner takes place in the Gleneagle Hotel Ballroom on Friday, November 14 at 6.30pm. Tickets available via Audrey (087 4585697), Lisa (087 9365322) and Rose (087 6765064).

They can also be purchased from Colette at the Dromhall Hotel, Brian James, O’Neills and the Blackthorn.

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