Tony Leen: Jack O'Connor's influence is written in prose as well as poetry
I'D RATHER JACK: Kerry manager Jack O'Connor and his squad celebrate with the Sam Maguire trophy after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Kerry and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
WHEN Paidi’s September evenings arrive and there’s no Kerry training to keep the summer vibe alive, they’ll repair early to the winter chat about the 38th All-Ireland and the winning of it.
It will only be the second time in a dozen years the old canister will spend the year’s end in Kerry’s keep and they’ll nod sagely when someone tells how Jack reckoned it was the ‘sweetest of them all’.
Because now they appreciate what he’s on about.
For sure, their 0-20 to 0-16 success at Croke Park on Sunday was an uplifting climax to the football campaign — and only one previous final has delivered more scores — but more pleasing for Kingdom folk is the fact that this title-winning campaign will he recounted in prose, not poetry. Even though Kerry’s footballers won all four competitions they entered in 2022, many of their careers will be framed by what happened in the closing 20 minutes of Sunday’s decider.
For all the nearly moments Kerry have been involved in since 2019, nothing spoke to renewal like this side’s ability to get out of dodge when they hadn’t their Sunday best in tow. They never led til the 41st minute of the final, a game they entered as raging favourites. There were frantic periods in both halves at Croke Park where Galway were pulling their favoured rivals around by the nose, making the smarter decisions in and out of possession. Kerry were ‘jiggy’, admitted Jack. Like Kilkenny a week before, Pádraic Joyce and his players will reflect on a final that might have ended differently.
What ultimately denied them a thrilling tenth All-Ireland was their opponent’s ability to keep their heads clear and their end-goal true. When it came to a 67th-minute moment that was always coming, David Clifford made the kill-shot with a stunning free under the Cusack Stand. After the game, Jack O’Connor walked over to the spot to make sure it was as acute and difficult as he’d imagined in real-time from the Hogan Stand sideline. Clifford delivered an MVP display when the climax demanded it. He has earned his place in the winter comparisons with Mikey, Maurice and Gooch now.
This goes all the way back to the opening League game of the season when they stunk Newbridge out at stages but emerged with a draw. The facility to grind out results has been beyond recent Kerry teams too frequently for it to be circumstantial and it was something Jack O’Connor set about tackling from the get-go of his third coming as the senior manager. He has mentioned coach Paddy Tally and sports performance coach Tony Griffin too liberally for it to be coincidence and their impact is among the most fundamental differences between coming up short and breasting the tape first.
O’Connor noted after Sunday’s rollercoaster win that they’ve conceded only a Cormac Costello goal in championship, and another couple in the league — one a Monaghan penalty and the second in a dead rubber against Tyrone. It is a remarkable statistic for a county where joga bonito is an expectation, and one that will be celebrated as joyously as David Clifford’s coronation with his first Celtic Cross medal.
Has Kerry football finally bought into pragmatism, and accepted that artistic brushstrokes and champagne football won’t always prevail? Is this Jack O’Connor’s greatest success, more remarkable even than restoring his people to the mountain top?
O’Connor went in hard for Paddy Tally when he interviewed to replace Peter Keane, the fear being that he might have walked away with his grand plan had the executive branch not backed his vision. He has said so himself so it’s no slight to suggest the Dromid man would strike a deal with Lucifer if he believed it would serve as a means to Kerry football’s end.
The Board in Kerry were seduced by some alternatives but in the area of guarantees, O’Connor offered as near as they could get. Tally and Griffin were the small margins.
It’s 18 years since his first All-Ireland success over Mayo in 2004 and some old tricks remain. He has knocked the edges off Graham O’Sullivan, his own club man, like he did then with Galvin and O’Mahony. Like that first final, he isn’t too clever to dust down old ploys. As he used Johnny Crowley and Dara Ó Cinnéide then, he instructed Kerry to bombard Galway’s full-back line with aerial gut-checkers early doors and turned them into scores via David Clifford marks.
Though Galway headed for the interval pause 0-8 to 0-7 ahead, they had done their work well and deserved a more representative lead. O’Connor and Kerry knew it. There were a few ‘yahoos’ at the break, the manager said, and they emerged with the two Spillanes to provide the legs and the edge missing in the first period. O’Connor has always believed in Killian Spillane but the Templenoe sharpshooter might have left other critics wondering. His two points on Sunday were worth far more than what appeared on the giant scoreboards.
In the 46th minute, a fascinating final seemed to have lurched Galway’s way. They edged 0-14 to 0-12 in front, and Kieran Molloy turned Stephen O’Brien possession over. Tom O’Sullivan had a shot blocked but Killian Spillane nipped in to gather the leftovers and was fouled. It was a crucial intervention, just as Graham O’Sullivan’s first point was three minutes after.
If Kerry thought they had beaten down Galway’s best, they were premature in doing so. Damien Comer, flushed out of full forward by a lack of involvement, pinched a Kerry restart to set up the wonderful Cillian McDaid for the 32nd point of the game – equally shared.
That was in the 64th minute. There were ten minutes football left, but Galway wouldn’t score again. Clifford’s 67th-minute point was a thing of beauty and a source of controversy. Pádraic Joyce felt after that Comer was pushed before Daly and Killian Spillane grappled. Sean Hurson awarded the free in to Kerry, which surprised most in the sellout crowd of 83,000. That said, McDaid won a free after being sandwiched six minutes earlier and both Kerry challenges looked to be with the shoulder.
Small margins, big calls.
And sweeter still for all that, reflected the Kerry manager afterwards.
“In the first half I thought we were very jiggy and not composed on the ball. I think we had seven wides kicked before Galway registered one. We were very wasteful. I felt that we weren’t playing to our potential out there.
“It had to be ground out and we spoke about that on Thursday night. There are many ways to win a game. We feel that all the work we have done on the mental side of the game with the lads, that we can dig out a game, we can dog it out. As it turned out that was the way.
“We have worked incredibly hard on the mental side of the game this year with Tony Griffin. I just think we needed everything in the end to get over the line because that was a really good Galway display.”
But one that came up goalless. Indeed, Shane Ryan’s gloves weren’t tested.
“The big difference this year is that we haven’t been conceding goals. It took a wonder goal from Cormac Costello to breach us against Dublin. Any day that a Kerry team does not concede goals you have a great chance.”
Extraordinarily, Gavin White exploded up the Hogan Stand side of the pitch to fist over a 72nd-minute point that put Kerry three clear. Leaving the ground a fortnight ago, he feared a cruciate injury had ended his dream and his year, but he got a session in this week to convince everyone that he’d bring the goods. As did Joe O’Connor late doors. And Paudie Clifford, who fumbled his way through the first period – a suitable metaphor for the Kerry performance – but reacted to a second half slap in the mouth by delivering in the clutch late on, making smart calls and momentum-changing decisions.
Symptomatic of a different, savvy Kerry.
Jack’s back alright.
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