Jack O'Connor intends to remain at Kerry helm

The Kerry manager felt Tom O'Sullivan's missed goal chance was a "critical moment".

ONE MORE YEAR: Kerry manager Jack O'Connor and coach Paddy Tally after their side's defeat against Armagh in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Jack O’Connor has confirmed his intention to remain at the helm in Kerry next year.

Handed an initial two-year term when returning for his third stint as Kerry manager in September 2021, O’Connor was then given a two-year extension at the end of the 2023 season.

Following Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Armagh - his first as Kerry boss after seven consecutive victories at the penultimate hurdle - O’Connor was asked about his future and whether he would serve an 11th season in the role.

“This management has another year in its contract, so we’ll hopefully see that out,” replied Jack.

His immediate reflections on the defeat zoned in on a third quarter where Tom O’Sullivan failed to take either of the two greens flag openings presented to him. With the first, he refused to take on the shot and doubled back. For the second on 41 minutes, he took the shot but the shot went wide.

“It looked like that missed goal chance into the Hill was a critical moment,” the Kerry manager said of O'Sullivan’s latter opportunity and the failure to push seven in front.

“If that went in, I thought the game was probably beyond Armagh. And then their goal, that poor goal that we conceded was a huge moment. That is where the game swung, those two moments.

“The goal we conceded was a killer in the sense that it got the Armagh crowd into it. I thought we quietened the crowd for large parts of the game, and it just gave Armagh momentum. And it is hard to break momentum. We did well to come back and equalise in normal time. Bitterly disappointing, it was a game we had enough chances to win.” 

CRITICAL: Aidan Forker of Armagh celebrates over Tom O'Sullivan of Kerry. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Although difficult to measure in white and green flags, O’Connor was adamant that the stands carrying an orange hue carried an impact inside the four white lines below.

“They outnumbered us fairly substantially and I thought the crowd was a factor in the game. No question about it, it just lifted Armagh.” 

Did their less than taxing run to the last four also tell? They hadn’t been examined to the extent Armagh probed and prodded them throughout. They were made to answer questions they hadn’t been asked all summer.

“We weren’t tested to that extent that we were tested out there, I suppose, and maybe that was a factor. That was possibly a factor, but my abiding feeling is when you miss chances and then you concede a poor goal like we did, that’s huge because it’s a momentum changer.”