Kerry star Joe O’Connor opens up on how his cruciate rehab helped make him a Footballer of the Year contender

David Clifford appears to be a shoo in for the award, but Joe O’Connor will likely join him as a nominee for the biggest individual honour after a series of barnstorming displays for Kerry

Kerry hero Joe O’Connor says that his cruciate nightmare helped to make him into a Footballer of the Year contender.

Although David Clifford appears to be a shoo in for the biggest individual honour in the game after another virtuoso display in the All-Ireland final win over Donegal, O’Connor will likely join him as a nominee for the award after a series of barnstorming displays as Kerry took their 39th title.

It’s been a long road for the 26-year-old, however, as a knee injury sustained while on club duty in early 2022 left him chasing his tail for much of that season as Kerry won the All-Ireland, while a cruciate ligament rupture in September of that year ruled him out for 2023.

He reflected: “The positive was that I had a year to work on my physique and work-ons, like my sprinting and stuff like that. I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that if I’d been playing game after game.

“So I tried to do that with the S&Cs and the physios, just really went after those work-ons to come back in way better shape. I probably did come back in better shape. I was more mobile. It ended up that way, yeah.”

O’Connor actually lifted the Sam Maguire Cup with Seán O’Shea as captain in 2022, an honour he enjoyed by virtue of his club Austin Stacks being county champions, but he was only a bit-part player at the time.

“It was about two minutes I’d say off the bench and that was just my role at the time and obviously getting to be a starter and probably a bit more of an impact.

“So it’s always what I wanted. I wanted to be a starter and try to be a big player.

“It was a tricky enough year probably being captain and getting token minutes and getting probably five or six minutes off the bench and it was just a weird enough position for me, but I always kind of knew that I wanted to, I wasn’t happy with that and I wanted to break in, and I just felt like I wouldn’t stop until I would be a starter.”

He rounded off a dream season by crashing in the game’s only goal late on against Donegal, roofing his finish after learning from his wastefulness against Tyrone in the semi-final.

“Yeah, I actually was getting a good few goal chances and I had to work on it because in the Tyrone game I was ballooning them over the bar and stuff, so I actually worked on it for the last few weeks and chatting a good bit to the ‘keepers and stuff.

“But a rush of blood really, I just had a pop. It was a class feeling into the Hill and just the way the game was probably over at that stage as well, it was very special and the crowd was lifting, so it was class.”