O’Connor confident AFL-bound pair will play for Kingdom again

JACK O’CONNOR is adamant that both Tommy Walsh and David Moran will play for Kerry again.

The Kerry manager was speaking yesterday just hours before Walsh inked a two-year international rookie contract with Melbourne side St Kilda.

Moran may yet join him though that has yet to be confirmed by club and player.

“They would be a massive loss,” said O’Connor. “They are the future of Kerry football but it is very hard for a young fella to turn down that type of opportunity – playing a game professionally in a country like Australia with the weather and lifestyle.

“Of course they’d be a huge loss, but the fact is there are more people coming back from Australia than are going out there. One way or the other, they’ll be back playing for Kerry in the future.”

Asked whether he had spoken to the pair about their futures, O’Connor remarked “far away hills are greener” and described the AFL offer as “a great adventure”.

“They both said it to me and, at the end of the day, I don’t have any pot of gold to keep them here.

“It’s an individual decision, but it’s very hard to stop a young lad going off and doing something like that.”

Predictably, the signing of Walsh made big headlines in Australia where he was liberally compared to some of the AFL’s best young players like Hawthorn’s Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin, Sydney’s Adam Goodes, St Kilda’s Sam Gilbert, Port Adelaide’s Warren Tredrea and Carlton’s Jarrad Waite.

“I’m very excited,” Walsh said. “I’m glad all the speculation is over and I’m looking forward to going over. It was a very tough decision but it was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

“I’m not under any illusions about what’s ahead and hopefully it will work out.”

Walsh signed on the dotted line after Matthew Drain, a senior St Kilda official, made a flying visit to Ireland from New York on Sunday.

Drain said last night that it was “very pleasing” to finally secure the Kerryman’s services.

“From our point of view, it was one of the reasons we gave up pick 16 (in the annual AFL draft) because, in the back of our mind, we thought we could get him,” Drain said. “He is the best credentialed player to come out of Ireland. He’s very different to a lot of key forwards going around. He’s very agile for his height.”

Ricky Nixon, who brought Walsh out to Australia last year for a trial, has long been talking up the talents and potential of the player who stands at almost 6’4” and weighs in just under 15 stone.

“Hopefully he will revolutionise Irish players in the AFL,” Nixon said. “Most, if not all, have been running midfielders but Tommy is a forward and no Irish player has come to play forward in the AFL. He is a powerhouse player. He’s a born leader. He’s from an outstanding family. His father Sean was an absolute legend for Kerry and his two younger bothers are standout players in the juniors.”

Reports suggest that Walsh will earn AUS$50,000 (€30,000) a year and St Kilda will be hoping they can fast track their new recruit through the initial development stages as he isn’t completely unfamiliar with the new code.

“With most players who come out of Ireland, we watch them, talk to them, and teach them to kick a drop punt,” Nixon said. “The advantage of him coming out here a year ago is that he’s had a Sherrin in his hands for a year to practice his skills.”

Meanwhile, Kerry were close to losing another star player earlier this summer when Paul Galvin considered packing the game in after seeing red against Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. After everything that happened the summer before, the Finuge man had almost had enough.

Galvin said as much to O’Connor at the time and, as he did then, the Kerry boss played down just how close he was to losing the services of a man who would go on to become player of the year.

“Maybe he just needed a bit of reassurance after what he had gone though last year. To get sent off in a big game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh was a big blow for him because he had made huge efforts to change his demeanour on the pitch.

“He showed great restraint all year and then that was a pressurised situation in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. He didn’t do a whole lot, but he did enough to get sent off and he was saying to himself ‘it’s deja vu again’. Maybe we just had to reassure him a bit because we know what he can bring to it when he plays.”