O’Driscoll hit by hurling bug as Brendan’s go for gold

KERRY SHC FINAL

Having served as Kerry minor boss for a brief spell, O’Driscoll was at the helm in Ardfert when notions swayed him down a different path. Holding onto his post with the club’s football team, O’Driscoll convinced the necessary people to hand him the reigns of the hurling outfit as well. Tomorrow afternoon, St Brendan’s return to the decider for the first time since 2009, bidding to end a 23-year gap to the club’s last hurling success.

“Since I got involved in the hurling two years ago it’s been exceptional,” he said.

“I went to the football semi-finals last Sunday and there was no real atmosphere. If you compare that to the Causeway semi-finals the atmosphere at that those games was unbelievable. I suppose the hurling is all about where you’re born and bred. You know the players that you are dealing with intimately and the spirit could never be as high with amalgamations in football for example.

“Down through the years when I’ve been the football manager we’d train on a Tuesday night, the hurlers would train on a Monday night, we’d train again on Thursday, the hurlers on Wednesday. It was crazy. You’re absolutely killing the same players. Players could be out seven nights a week and there is no professional athlete doing that so it is very unrealistic to expect that of the lads. I just put my name forward to manage both because the players didn’t want to let anyone down and they were being pulled and dragged so we decided to sort the mess out.”

Time spent with the small ball has led to a shift in O’Driscoll’s passions.

“I definitely caught the hurling bug. It’s a much better game than football. Winning a county championship in hurling would definitely be up there with anything we achieved with the footballers, even the successes in Croke Park. The parish desperately needs a hurling win. 23 years is too long. That’s a life sentence. We don’t get to finals too often so when we get there we have to win one. Lixnaw are in the same boat, however.

“This bunch are like a family. I love walking into the dressing room before training, having the craic before we start. There are times I lose the head and we fall out but we gather ourselves again two days later and its all forgotten about. I say to myself at the end of every year that I will pull out, but it’s a drug. I have it very bad. I find it hard to detach myself from it. I have it 24/7, every minute of the day.”