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Eamonn Fitzgerald: Jack will do his own thing

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4 years ago

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Kerry Jack O'Connor will return for his third stint as Kerry manager when his appointment is ratified on Monday. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.

In this week’s column, Eamonn Fitzgerald reflects on the appointment of Jack O’Connor as manager of the Kerry senior football team, while also sharing his memories the late Donie Sheahan and Paddy Prendergast RIP

Managing a losing team is a lonely place to be. Who would want it, was a point I made in last week’s edition and added that Jack O’Connor did want the Kerry job.

Not surprisingly he will take over from Peter Keane, with Micheál Quirke and Diarmuid Murphy as selectors. That will be rubber-stamped on Monday night next. Note it is three selectors so far (manager plus two), not the customary five, and if Jack decides that three is enough, it will be enough. After all, he will be the manager. He will be adding other members to the management team, such as strength and conditioning, tactician and a host of others.

But Jack will be boss. He knows he has the players well capable of winning All-Irelands. What he has to do is to create a style of play and game plans (A and B) that will reap one reward. Bring Sam back to Kerry. That’s the message from the Kerry supporters. They are animalistic in their sole demand. If he fails to win, he will be castigated, as happened to him during his two earlier stints as manager.

He was an All-Ireland winning manager with Coláiste na Sceilge and brought home Sam in both of his terms as manager of the Kerry senior team. That, in my opinion, was the central criteria for success that influenced the Big 5 in their final recommendation to the County Board on Monday next.

Tim Murphy is one of the Kerry chairman unfortunate enough not to welcome home Sam during his five-year reign. Former chairmen Frank King and Gerald McKenna lived on the reflected glory of the Golden Years of the Mick O’Dwyer era. Then they gave O’Dwyer free reign. Jack will also do his own thing and if success follows he won’t have any interference. If you win the Sam Maguire, all other contentious matters in the day-to-day running of the Kerry County Board can be overcome with relative ease. The empty trophy shelf raises all kinds of hassle.

DEFENSIVE COACH

Jack is waiting on confirmation of Paddy Tally’s availability as a defensive coach. He won’t sign up Donie Buckley, even though the Castleisland man is very popular with players wherever he coaches. I believe that had Kerry a good defensive coach for the last number of years, the yawning gaps and unprotected central defensive positions would have prevented those goals. Kerry have plenty scoring power but leaking goals thought the centre was the main reason Sam did not come to Kerry.

It is ironic that Tyrone man Tally will be showing Kerry backs how to defend and we know how successful the Tyrone defence was in winning the 2021 All-Ireland. Expect a new, steely edge.

I am not forgetting the players. All the blame should not be heaped on Peter Keane. The players are not blameless in the crucial defeats over the past three years. Some lacked the ‘never say die’ winning attitude and allowed the opposition to boss them. Jack will have none of that.

KERRY OR KILDARE

He was doing well with Kildare, but knew that he would never win the bit titles with them. He knows that there are enough very good players available from the five-in-a-row All-Ireland minor squads. That won’t even be enough. He will seek out late developers, who did not come through the Kerry development squads. Will he unearth another Kieran Donaghy?

Kerry is the best bet for success and Jack saw the opportunity. He had his card marked and moved early, saying the right things. That Irish Examiner podcast and the reference to Kerry and Man Utd was not a slip of the tongue. That was a great head start. While others rushed to get management teams together, Jack O’Connor consolidated his position. Everyone in Kerry wants to see Sam back and if Jack can do it, so be it.

Many want more than that. If he fails, he will remember the truth of the statement of the late Páidí Ó Sé, even if the language was undiplomatic. The fans that cheer you when you are winning, will turn against you very quickly when Kerry lose. Jack had this criticism, as did Peter Keane ,and even Mick O’Dwyer who masterminded eight All-Irelands. Winner takes all.

Best of luck to Jack O’Connor and his management group when the final composition becomes public knowledge.

WELL INTO THE NINETIES

Two very different kinds of GAA footballing legends passed away last week, both nonagenarians. Donie Sheahan will be remembered in Killarney for the huge lifetime commitment he gave to sport, especially football, horse racing and bridge. He was also a great card player and loved the Wednesday Progressive 31 sessions Fr Paddy Doc organised with Dr Crokes in recent years, until COVID denied Donie and so many more a great social night.

What many of our readers may not know is that Donie was also a great bridge player and distinguished himself by winning a prestigious British Isles bridge title.

My sporting memories of Donie were outlined at length less than a year ago in this column, In Conversation with Donie Sheahan. To recap very briefly he was a very successful horse owner with several horses from his farm at Lawlor’e Cross winners at racetracks all over the country. What a thrill he got out of leading in his winners in Killarney and his hometown of Listowel.

I admired his infectious enthusiasm and his ability to make a winning team out of several clubs in East Kerry, treating everyone on his own merit, irrespective of what club they came from. He coaxed and cajoled everyone into a unified team. He managed those teams to four Kerry SFC titles in 1965, 1968, 1969 and 1970, several Munster Inter-club titles, and, to crown it all, trained East Kerry to win the first ever All-Ireland Club Football final in 1971. East Kerry were the only divisional board team to win the competition and he reminded me regularly that it was the sweetest day of all.

His prescription for success for the backs was “mark your own man and keep goalside all the time”. For midfielders such as Pat Moynihan, it was “get up high and catch it (the ball) and kick the bloody ball into Tom Long, Johnny Culloty and Mick Gleeson. They’ll do the rest”.

He wasn’t managing Dr Crokes when they won their first All-Ireland Club title in 1992, but he was as eager as ever and played a vital part as an unpaid physical therapist, easing out stiff muscles and joints. Crokes players recalled last weekend of his famous embrocation. Donie’s bottle. No one ever knew the secret ingredient. All that was written on the bottle was ‘The Rub’. It worked wonders.

So too did his legendary cough bottle. Donie’s cough bottle cured when so many other high faulting mixtures failed. On one particular occasion, Maurice Fitzgerald was wrecked by an awful cough, and Kerry so badly needed him. Mentors came to Donie; the magic bottle was dispatched to Cahersiveen and Maurice said the best game he played for Kerry was after taking Donie’s cough bottle. Not a performance enhancing drug in today’s sporting worlds, but a facilitator allowing the Iveragh sportsman to shine once more.

I’m quite sure that there are many parents among our readers that swore by that same cough bottle. Mighty stuff, from a mighty man.

When he set up his pharmacy in 34 Main Street 70 years ago he immediately joined Dr Crokes and gave a lifetime of service in many roles. He was chairman of the club in three different eras, totalling over 30 years in the chair, as well as 50 years as club delegate at the Kerry County Board.

PADDY P

And on Sunday last I heard of the death of the legendary Paddy Prendergast, or Paddy P as he was better known. One year younger than Donie Sheahan, he spent most of his life in Tralee, but never forgot his native Ballintubber.

I never saw him play, but he must have been special to be selected at full back on the football Team of the Millennium. All reports indicate that the garda from Ballintubber commandeered the square in that era when the goalkeeper was well protected by his full back.

He was also the last remaining one of the Mayo team that won the 1951 All-Ireland. They haven’t won any one since and the pain continued just a few weeks ago when Mayo lost yet another final. The whole country wanted Mayo to win, but on the day Tyrone deserved Sam.

The Mayo fans in Ireland and the Mayo diaspora are the most loyal supporters I know of, coming back each year only to suffer excruciating defeats. Think of some players who lost nine semi-finals and six finals in recent years. I think of Lee Keegan who lost seven finals. How does he keep coming back after all the heartbreaks? Yet he was the one player who stood out in the final quarter of this year’s final. He played a sound game at full back, but when he sensed that Sam was slipping away he made his trademark sallies deep into the Tyrone defence.

Brendan Hoban wrote a fine article in the Western People last week dealing with the backlash the Mayo players/families/management received for failing to bring Sam home.

“We need analysis, not bitterness, we take care of our own,” said Brendan.

“The personal criticism on social media was reprehensible, directing their bile to whatever player or players they decided didn’t live up to their inflated expectations.  But worst of all was the dismissive tone of those who like Joe Brolly in the Sunday Independent decided to personalise criticism of Mayo’s defeat by attributing it to a few individuals, in this case the Mayo manager, James Horan and Mayo captain, Aidan O’Shea.”

Analysis and constructive criticism, yes; personal vindictiveness, no. What applies to Mayo applies equally to Kerry.

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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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