Jack O'Connor: 'Naive' podcast comments weren't 'advertising myself' for Kerry job

Jack O'Connor pictured at a press conference in Austin Stack Park, Tralee. Picture: Domnick Walsh 

Jack O’Connor has said he did not use the Irish Examiner GAA podcast to advertise himself for the position of Kerry senior football manager as there was no Kerry job to position himself for at the time.

The new Kerry manager has also rubbished claims he walked away from the Kildare gig in early September because he had been asked by Kingdom chiefs to take charge of his native county weeks before his third coming as Kerry manager was officially confirmed on September 24.

Contrary to a Kildare GAA statement released on September 6 that said O’Connor and his management team were “at an advanced stage of planning for 2022”, O’Connor has this evening insisted he had not committed to a third year with the Lilywhites and had “more or less” made up his mind that he was done with Kildare on the afternoon of their Leinster final defeat to Dublin.

Appearing on the Irish Examiner GAA podcast at the end of August, O’Connor admitted he still harboured aspirations of taking charge of Kerry for a third time.

“Of course, there is an allure there,” he told Paul Rouse on the show. “Who doesn’t want to coach Man United?”

O’Connor has said he was “naive” to make the comments he did, but that there was nothing more to it than answering a question he had been asked by Rouse.

“People interpreted that as me advertising myself for the Kerry job. There wasn't the Kerry job there to be advertising for at the time. To say that there were conspiracy theories out there is an understatement,” O’Connor remarked at his first media briefing back in the Kingdom hot-seat.

“I said managing in a place like Kildare is an easier job because the expectations are lower. But sure look, people take what they want out of your comments. I wasn't overly happy the way it was portrayed in the paper. In fact, I wasn't happy at all.”

Turning to Kildare, O’Connor was keen to address the “misconception” that he had signed up for year three with the Lilywhites. He said the Kildare County Board had their "own reasons” for putting out a statement that gave a firm impression that O’Connor had already provided his word that he was going again in 2022.

“The situation in Kildare was I more or less had my mind made up when we were beaten in the Leinster final. In fact, if you're reading body language in the dressing room after the game, you would say I was quite emotional in the dressing room because I'd a fair idea it was my last time meeting that bunch of players or addressing them.

“I was very well treated in Kildare, I had a great time up there. The people couldn't have been more welcoming. I will forever have fond memories of the way I was treated in Kildare and my dealings with the Kildare players and county board and the people I worked with up there.

“But the almost nine-hour round journey was taking a huge toll on me and even people close to me would have remarked around that time that I'd lost a lot of weight.

“The other thing that people don't realise is I didn't have a management team any more up there. Virtually the whole management team had broken up.

“This thing that I left Kildare because I was asked to manage Kerry or that it was a done deal is absolute and total nonsense. And it was addressed well by the chairman of the county board at the meeting on Monday. I want to absolutely second that because that is the truth.”

When asked would he still be Kildare manager if the Kerry job hadn't been advertised, O'Connor replied: "I'd have been down in Waterville playing golf and walking my dog in Ballinskelligs beach, and I was 100% reconciled to doing that because the toll that driving was taking on me was just too much."

O’Connor confirmed that former Down manager Paddy Tally will serve as Kerry coach during his term, with the pair having got to know each other during their respective tenures on the sideline with Kildare and Down.

“You know when you are in the game what coaches are good, what coaches are average, and I would have admired Paddy for a while. I have got to know him better over the past couple of years because we (Kildare) have played Down about four times.

“Paddy is just a very clever coach and he has a lot of experience. He has been to three or four different counties, he just happens to be available because he is on a work sabbatical.

“I think we are very lucky to have him on board because he is just a very intelligent, clever, and organised guy who will bring something to Kerry that we haven’t got.”