In guiding Kerry to a fifth title this year, O’Connor surpassed Seán Boylan, with only Jim Gavin (six) and Mick O’Dwyer (eight) having delivered the Sam Maguire Cup with greater frequency
You might think that asking Jack O’Connor to pick his favourite All-Ireland would be akin to choosing between his children, but he can narrow it down to two at least.
In guiding Kerry to a fifth title this year, O’Connor surpassed Seán Boylan, with only Jim Gavin (six) and Mick O’Dwyer (eight) having delivered the Sam Maguire Cup with greater frequency.
This title seemed to hit a little differently, however. There were shades of Kerry’s 2009 win, when O’Connor was also at the helm, as they bounced back from a shattering mid-season defeat that placed huge question marks over their status as contenders.
But once they hit Croke Park, they were relentless. That they mowed down three Ulster teams in holders Armagh, Tyrone and Donegal, all while exploiting the new rules effectively, is perhaps what sweetened the taste that bit more this time.
“For whatever reason, this one seemed to mean a bit more to Kerry people than some of the others,” acknowledged O’Connor, who has been named as the 2025 GWA Football Personality of the Year, supported by Dalata Hotel Group.
“From where we were six weeks out from the final, after the Meath game, people were pleasantly surprised, and the manner of the performances as well once we got to Croke Park caught the imagination.
“Good reaction down here, great crowds came out when we returned to Tralee, Killarney, Rathmore, Dingle, Kenmare in the week following. Great sense of satisfaction.”
For that reason, it stands out as O’Connor’s sweetest, though his first, more than 20 years ago, runs it close.
“It was the one that I found that gave most satisfaction to the people of Kerry and that then gives me the most satisfaction. Sure that’s why we’re in it.
“We’re in it, first of all to enjoy it and then to give pleasure to people. It is the number one pastime in Kerry, being interested in football.
“So I said it to the lads during the year that we were privileged to be doing something that we love doing. Something that gives such satisfaction to a whole county, sure that’s a great pursuit to be involved in.
“From that point of view it probably was the most satisfying but I’ll tell you, they’re all hard won.
“2004 for me personally was a big one because it gave me some credibility. I was replacing a legend like Páidí [Ó Sé].
“As I said before, it wouldn’t be much good, the county board putting me in to replace Páidí if I hadn’t been able to win an All-Ireland. That gave me some credibility and I don’t think the other successes would have followed if I hadn’t won that one.”
Having served three years in his first stint as Kerry manager and four in his second, O’Connor has now decided to stay on for an extra two years, which will take his third – and, he insists, final – tenure to six seasons. It comes despite soundings from him over the summer suggesting that he was about to bow out this year.
“One of the big factors was you get a burst of energy after a win that you don’t have before that. That was one thing.
“A critical factor was that as a management, we had functioned very well particularly in the second half of the year, around the quarter-final stage when we really got our act together. I felt I owed them. It wouldn’t have looked great for me to take off and leave them.
“Plus I would have spoken to a few of the players and they would have encouraged me to stick at it.”
Delegation is another reason. O’Connor turned 65 yesterday and is hungry for another two years, but he quit the job for the first time back in 2006, just days short of his 46th birthday.
Kerry went on to retain the title under Pat O’Shea the following year, but he insists that fear of missing out is not driving his decision almost two decades later.
“I had no alternative to leave in 2006, I’ll be honest. I was burned out. That was a time when I was doing the coaching myself and that was a particularly tough year. I was burned out, physically, mentally, emotionally, every way.
“Even if I wanted to stay on, I couldn’t have stayed on. And I made the right decision, 100%. Because I just needed to go away and decompress or whatever.
“By 2008 I was starting to get my energy back and I actually got involved with Kerins O’Rahillys. We reached a county final and were beaten by a last minute penalty.
“It’s such an intense job, especially in Kerry where you’re answerable to an awful lot of people. To a whole county who are football mad and a big panel of players. It is a pretty onerous enough job. You can get burned out.
“This time, by and large, I wouldn’t be as hands on and I think that is more sustainable, The way I was doing it in the past wasn’t as sustainable. Particularly when I was working.
“I’m retired, I’m still pretty healthy, fit as well, I exercise a lot. I watch my diet and I don’t drink too many pints. I have a better balance and it’s more sustainable.
“The way I was doing it before was absolutely full on and by the end of 2006 I was burned out. I was absolutely burned out.”
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