O’Connor: Let’s stick together
The Kerry manager was offered a two-year term when he decided to return to the hot seat after a two-year gap late last year and he intends completing his part of that bargain.
“You’re mad to retire me lads,” he said when quizzed on his intentions yesterday in Dublin. “I’m a man of my word. I took the job for two years so I’ll stay for two anyway.”
By coincidence, O’Connor was seated in the very same room in Ballsbridge as when he had been asked the same question in the wake of the 2006 defeat of Mayo. Back then, he also indicated his eagerness to stay on. Sean Walsh, county chairman at the time, was equally keen for him to continue, but in the end he walked away.
With the Tyrone box still to be ticked, it would be a major surprise if O’Connor did likewise this time but others may yet decide to say their farewells in the weeks to come.
Second-guessing Darragh O Sé’s intentions has become something of a national pastime in recent years and, at 34 years of age, the rumour mill will crank up through the gears again this winter.
“Darragh will make up his own mind about that,” said O’Connor. “Whether he does or he doesn’t, six All-Ireland finals is no mean feat. Even in Kerry.
“There was a bit of symmetry this year. Six finals in a row and Darragh winning his sixth medal. Both of those are serious milestones. Especially in the competitive climate you have now. That’s no mean achievement.”
The will-he-won’t-he saga surrounding Tadhg Kennelly has already been in full swing for weeks now with the player himself remaining elusive as to his intentions next season. Still a registered Sydney Swans player, and with personal and business ties down under, it remains to be seen what shape ball the Listowel man will be kicking and catching in 2010.
No-one in Kerry, it seems, will be pushing him into a decision.
“That’s his own business, lads. He sacrificed a lot to come back and do what he did. I’m sure he feels it’s all worth it now because money can’t buy that scene out there in Croke Park yesterday in the sea of green and gold. Money can’t buy that stuff.”
The other man with a large question mark shadowing his every move is Mike McCarthy who came out of retirement in mid-summer to anchor the side’s defence at centre-back.
Just four other members of this year’s Kerry panel – Diarmuid Murphy, Tommy Griffin, Tom O’Sullivan and Tomas O Sé – have tipped over into their third decade.
Murphy, like Darragh O Sé, is 34 but that’s hardly old for a goalkeeper. None of the others are older than 31, which blows a gaping hole in the theory that Kerry are an ageing force.
The reality is that the team, as well as the wider panel, is peppered with players in their early to mid-twenties and the key to continued success will lie with them more as time ticks by.
“The secret is what Cody does in Kilkenny,” said O’Connor. “He keeps rejigging the team. There must have been four or five changes from the (Kerry) All-Ireland team last year. That’s a third of a team. And that’s about all you could do without totally dismantling the team. You could do that.
“I remember in 2004, we did something similar. We brought in a few players. And they weren’t even new players. They were just fellas who had been on the fringes. Players like William Kirby. Kirby was a big player that time. He had been on the fringes but he got a new lease of life at that time. Mike Mac did that for us this year. He gave us fierce impetus there in the middle.”
So, the tea leaves would suggest that there will be no splintering of this group of players between now and the New Year and for that O’Connor can think Sunday’s win.
“It would be a bad blow to lose two All-Ireland finals in a row,” he agreed. “You’d see a serious exodus of players if you had lost a second final in a row. When you win, it gives fellas something to hold on to. I couldn’t see any major fall out from this. I think most of the panel will stick together.”
