Tradition only takes you so far

In his three All-Ireland winning seasons as Kerry manager Jack O’Connor was forced to show his imagination and resolve in adversity.

In 2004 expectations were dampened by Kerry’s troubles in overcoming a cussed Limerick challenge in Munster, while in 2006 and 2009 O’Connor was forced to navigate the rocky road to Dublin via the qualifiers.

2006 saw one of the low points in the county’s proud footballing history when Declan O’ Sullivan left the field in Páirc Uí Chaoimh to an unseemly chorus of boos from a smattering of his own supporters apparently intent on proving that Páidí Ó Sé didn’t go far enough in his infamous assessment of the essential nature of the Kerry fan four years earlier.