O'Connor blames club fatigue as Kerry again struggle to kill off a comfortable contest

Kerry led a disappointing Dublin side by eight points in the 61st minute but saw it cut to three points by the 65th.

Sat, 21 Feb, 2026 - 21:57

John Fogarty

Jack O’Connor has suggested Kerry’s extensive club season may be a reason behind his team not finishing games "as strong as they should”.

Kerry led Dublin by eight points in the 61st minute but saw it cut to three points by the 65th. Coming after two home games where they drew against Galway having been 12 points ahead and were seven points to the good against Roscommon before needing a last-gasp Tomás Kennedy free, it’s a trend O’Connor addressed from the outset of his post-match press conference.

“Last weekend, halfway through the second half, we were 12 points up and we finished up lucky not to lose the game. So, yeah, something similar started happening there towards the end of the game. We conceded a goal and a two-pointer to bring it back to three points," he said.

“And I didn't think it was a three-point game at that stage, you know? But thankfully we finished strong and won it by five or six in the end, was it? But plenty room for improvement.”

O’Connor suggested teams are fitter than Kerry early in the season because of players’s club commitments towards the end of the calendar year.

“There’s a lot of our players not back training until the first week of January. You know what I mean? So, they're still finding their feet and trying to get miles on the clock," he added.

“You know, the vast majority of other teams were back earlier than us because of the nature of the club scene in Kerry. There was a local divisional championship going on until the end of November.

“Now, we have to give them December off and then they're back in January and that's late. That gives you three weeks to start the league. So, that's where we're at. I think that accounts for the fact that maybe we're not finishing games as strong as we should. It was great to have a bit of experience coming off the bench.”

O’Connor hailed those contributions of Paudie Clifford and Tom O’Sullivan who made their first appearances of the year.

“We needed them. Paudie carried some great ball. I'm delighted for him now. He's had a frustrating time with injury," said O'Connor.

“Great to see Tom back going well again with his trademark point there from under the Hogan (Stand). So, we'll need all that going forward because there'll be injuries.”

As he saw his team slip to their third defeat in four games, Dublin manager Ger Brennan rued his team’s conversion rate.

“The chances, unfortunately, the efficiency, we just have to keep going after that. I think we may have finished on 43% shot to score ratio. Kerry were 63%, I think, give or take," Brennan said.

“They had four two-point opportunities, they scored three. We had nine two-point opportunities, we scored two. So that's the part of the game we're going to have to go after, especially with the new rules.

“You just have to be efficient with your use of the ball. So that's the biggest difference between the teams tonight. But fair play to Kerry, they're All-Ireland champions for a reason.”

Brennan confirmed captain Con O’Callaghan tweaked the hamstring that ruled him out of the defeat to Mayo and wasn’t risked for the second half.