'Live your life': Jack O'Connor has learned how to survive All-Ireland final week

Kerry manager Jack O'Connor on why it's important to maintain mental freshness during All-Ireland final week, and what he considers when putting a backroom team together. 

Jack O'Connor said David Clifford has developed “mechanisms” to keep the heat off him at times. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon

Jack O’Connor doesn’t specify which of the previous seven All-Ireland finals he is referencing. Doesn’t tell us whether it is one of the four successful or three unsuccessful. His tone, though, would suggest the fixture belongs to the latter group.

The Kerry manager was in holistic humour at the county’s All-Ireland final press afternoon in the Gleneagle on Saturday. An all-encompassing view was adopted and articulated for the duration of the 29-minute chat. Football rarely stood in isolation.