Kerry boss ‘tempted’ to leave

KERRY county board chairman Sean Walsh expressed hope that Jack O’Connor will remain as manager after their All-Ireland defeat to Tyrone.

"We will be hoping, the players, the county board and the supporters, that Jack O'Connor would remain at the helm for another year," Walsh said on his return to Tralee last night.

His comments came after O'Connor hinted that he will not seek another term now that his two-year term has expired.

"You would be tempted to say, look I've done my stint. We've had two great years. We've just lost our first championship match in two years, which wasn't a bad record, albeit a very important match to lose and a very disappointing one. If you were to ask me now, I would say that I wouldn't be going on," he said.

Whoever manages Kerry over the next number of seasons will face a serious test in resisting Ulster's growing dominance in the game, according to O'Connor. Tyrone may be All-Ireland champions but it is the potential bubbling under the surface of the senior game that prompted O'Connor's words as he dwelt on his side's three-point defeat at the weekend.

Down's ten-point romp over Mayo in the minor final helped cap a wonderful year for football up north, with only Galway's defeat of the Mourne County in the U21 decider preventing a clean sweep for the province.

In fact, only once in the past five seasons in 2003 has Ulster failed to win two of the three national competitions. Ulster sides have won six of the last eight minor competitions, three from six at U21 and three from four at senior.

Kerry have not won an All-Ireland minor title since 1994 and their last U21 success was in 1998. Sunday's defeat was their third loss to an Ulster team at senior level in four years.

O'Connor said: "I think the underage structures in the north are ahead of the others. I've noticed it at colleges level. They seem to be strong up there, extremely well organised with coaching systems in place. They are putting in a lot of time and money and effort at grassroots level. That is what other counties are going to have to do.

"Ulster teams have raised the stakes and it's up to the other counties to go that bit higher again."

The question now is whether Kerry continue to evolve their game along the lines patented by the Tyrones and Armaghs or whether they revert to the more free-flowing game that served them so well up until 2002/03.

"You have to adapt a bit to come to grips with them. A lot depends on what type of players you have. We brought in young Darren O'Sullivan on Sunday. He is only 19, you play a different type of game with him. I thought he did well when he came in," O'Connor said.

"Tyrone have a group of very mobile and very fast footballers who can use the ball and who can play a very free flowing, slick moving, passing and running game that suits them. You play the game that suits the players you have rather than imposing a set style on players."

In truth, the future is littered with unknowns for this Kerry team.

O'Connor's isn't the only future being speculated on with a number of senior players expected to do some serious thinking before committing to another year or opting for retirement.