Don’t let the ‘influencers’ suck the joy out of football

Once upon a time, former senior manager Jack O’Connor thought it would be a good idea to bring in a sport psychologist to do a group session with the Kerry players of the last decade.

It didn’t quite pan out like he had hoped. After about 45 minutes of players sniggering and giggling their way through a barrage of buzz words and zingy phrases, the sports psychologist eventually took his beating and called it quits about a half an hour early.

It was like when you’re a kid sitting in Mass, you know you shouldn’t be laughing, but something sets you off, and the more you try to stop yourself the more uncontrollable it becomes.