Mark O’Connor continues to excel there while Kerry's need here has never been greater

Mark O'Connor makes his 100th appearance for Geelong but has not ruled out a return to Gaelic football in the future.

Fri, 16 Jun, 2023 - 07:47

Maurice Brosnan

The crown was coming. In the decade-spanning storied history of Gaelic footballers moving to Australian rules, only six have played 100 games. Mark O’Connor became the latest on Thursday, kicking a goal as Geelong suffered a 39-point loss.

It was always a case of when not if. That is what his team-mate Zach Tuohy said three years ago when O’Connor was appointed to the club’s leadership group. When the Dingle club man made his debut in 2017 as a rookie, Tadhg Kennelly also cited his leadership as reason for such a rapid progression. He said his fellow Kerryman is mistaken for being quiet.

Actually, he is a figure who takes due consideration first: “a real thinker.” His role ensures he must occasionally convey those thoughts bluntly. In 2021, Geelong collapsed against a Melbourne side who came from 44 points down to score the winning goal after the siren. Melbourne giant Max Gawn caught a long ball in front of the sticks in the final seconds to deliver the dagger.

Watch the footage and it is clear how much the comeback means to the joyous Dees, who went on to win the Grand Final. It is also clear how intolerable it was to O’Connor. Immediately, he spun to his team-mates to dissect the fatal cut. The Cats have a system. Their ruckman goes to the opposition ruckman. There should be a spare jumper near the danger zone. Why didn’t that happen? He was intense but never unfair. For their progression it was crucial: “That is the stuff you have to nail for big games.”

A year later they were AFL Grand Champions. O’Connor and Laois native Tuohy joined Kennelly as the only Irish Premiership winners.

“As an 18-year-old, he was the most together young person I have ever spoken to in an interview situation and he has just improved since then,” head coach Chris Scott said this week.

“Every Irishman that I am aware of that has come out and had success, they tend to be really well together people and Mark has been that for us for sure. Mark is a leader in our team and he was that after 50 games, much less 100.”

He was a member of Kerry's All-Ireland minor winning teams of 2014 and 2015 and in such circumstances, the conversation is inescapable. The one that got away. The kingdom’s lost jewel. Is that the case?

Or would he even be able to kick a ball now if he hadn’t gone away?

It was an underage career haunted by chronic tendonitis. Physio Ger Keane dedicated hours to his condition. The payoff was back-to-back All-Irelands. The price was relentless, debilitating pain. Not severe enough to constrict the teenager to the sideline, just enough to ensure he was always at 50%. No sharp turns. Forget about jumping off one leg. He couldn’t start the 2015 semi-final against Derry and came on in the second half. He targeted a midweek A vs B game to prove he was ready to go for the decider and spent every other waking hour focusing on recovery. After that final, he was unable to descend stairs.

That year O’Connor was due to make his senior debut against Clare. Inevitably, the knee buckled in the warmup. It was crushing. That was a dressing room filled with childhood heroes. Something had to change. Even in the rich football heartland of Kerry, talent alone has limited purchase. Physically he was broke.

There were AFL trials in Dublin that year. O’Connor was a limited participant, squirming at the thought of hardwood floors. At the start of 2016, he wrote down his goals for the year. One of them was to have the option to try a professional environment in Australia. Later he cut that page out and deposited it in an envelope. He carries it with him still. A reminder of the creed. Dream. Believe. Work. Achieve.

At the start of 2017, he jotted down another unlikely goal. Despite being a rookie, he wanted to debut early.

The football department was undergoing a significant reconstruction during his first visit. Kardinia Park and its immense facilities are amongst the best parts of being in an elite environment. The worst was the realities of a pro sport and its cutthroat nature. He commenced last season without two of his closest friends and former housemates. Charlie Constable was delisted and now plays for Gold Coast in Queensland. Oscar Brownless was cut as well and is no longer in the league but flew to Dublin last July to support Stefan Okunbor in the All-Ireland final. Around his neck in Croke Park was a green and gold band.

Before those initial AFL trials, the midfielder phoned the Kerry minor manager to inform him he would be attending. Jack O’Connor was understandably unenthusiastic. There was another phone call when he was going and the phone rang again in 2021 during the offseason, while it was still up in the air if he would make it home to Dingle for a visit.

It was the new senior Kerry manager, Jack O’Connor. Back for a third stint and as determined as ever. It was only sensible that he sound out their star Down Under. On the ticket was another Dingle man, Diarmuid Murphy. A player and a person he revered.

There are other club-mates and former team-mates in the starting side for Sunday. David Moran’s absence only reinforces the need for another athletic midfielder. In the Kerry county championship last winter, O’Connor showed flashes of the gifted Gaelic footballer he can be. His current contract runs until the end of 2024. During the pandemic, only quarantine and a Mark Keane wonder goal denied his senior Kerry debut.

It means his future in green and gold is still a case of if, not when.

“I still have a lot of growth in me, which is exciting,” he told the Geelong Advertiser before his 100th outing.

“I do have a strong connection back home. All my family is there and it’s a tight-knit community and I still have some Gaelic aspirations there. Hopefully I can play until I am 34 and feeling good, that would be ideal, but it is just hard to know.”