Kerry and Mayo form unlikely western coaching alliance
Kerry manager Jack O'Connor, right, with coach Cian O'Neill. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
As a long-time resident of the town, Donie Buckley might appreciate the comings and goings of coaches between Kerry and Mayo being likened to a Siege of Ennis.
For the only the second time in 20 years, the Castleisland man is not part of a senior inter-county coaching ticket. For only the fourth year in 15, he is not preparing either his native county or Mayo (he spent two years working with Monaghan in 2021 and ’22).
It must feel strange for a man who had two spells as Mayo coach assisting four managements – James Horan (2013-14), Ray Connelly/Pat Holmes (2015), Stephen Rochford (2016-18) and Kevin McStay (2023-25) and two in Kerry – Jack O’Connor (2011) and Peter Keane (2019, early part of ’20).
Not to worry, the closest coaching relationship in inter-county football continues in Austin Stack Park on Saturday (4pm).
Former Mayo mentor Cian O’Neill is in his second year of his second spell with Kerry, while ex-Kerry coach Paddy Tally is now part of Andy Moran’s set-up.
At this stage, it’s 14 years since O’Neill’s one season with Mayo before moving to Kerry.
Player-wise, only Aidan O’Shea links the Mayo of then with now but Tyrone man Tally had been due to work with him under Jack O’Connor as a performance coach last season before Derry came calling.
Tally won’t claim to have the keys to the Kingdom despite his three seasons working with O’Connor, but he was over a Derry side that hit Kerry for 25 scores in early February last year. Scoring wasn’t the problem for Derry under Tally.
With references such as “Moranball” gaining currency, not a whole lot of credit appears to be going his way despite Mayo’s flattering style and newfound love of two-pointers.
Their 18 total thus far, the most in the topflight, is three times what they mustered at this stage last year.
Mayo have also conceded the least amount of two-pointers in Division 1 and four less than the first five rounds in 2025, something for which Tally, typecast as a defensive strategist, is more likely to be complimented.
The eight that have been scored against Mayo in five games thus far was the same number posted by Galway in their meeting in Castlebar in early February 2025.
That meanness is in keeping with the statistics Kerry boasted under Tally’s influence in 2022 when their concession rate dropped to 12.8 from 15 points per game the season before. They never conceded more than 16 points.
After Tyrone, Down (once as coach, once as manager), Galway, Kerry and Derry, Mayo is Tally’s sixth different county assignment. O’Neill also had a spell in Galway and including Tipperary’s senior hurlers his collection of counties is also half a dozen.
Six is also the number of times O’Neill has coached teams to All-Ireland SFC finals. Tally has done so on four occasions, while they have been winning coaches twice – Tally with Tyrone in 2003 and Kerry in ’22 and O’Neill with the latter in 2014 and ’25.
Almost as enduring as O’Connor’s relevancy as a manager is that of Tally and O’Neill as coaches.
Thrice 11 years apart, O’Neill has been a thorn in the side of Jim McGuinness, with Kerry in two finals as well as Galway in the 2024 All-Ireland semi-final after the Donegal man landed the first blow in 2012.
Speaking after last year’s final, O’Neill paid tribute to O’Connor’s willingness to delegate.
There’s no question about who’s the boss – when Jack told everyone prior to the game that less was more, it was accepted – but the five-time All-Ireland winning manager is now more of a chairman.
O’Connor was banking on his experience as O’Neill was when he insisted Kerry take their time with adopting to the new rules last season. The training camp to Portugal proved the perfect opportunity to study them.
O’Neill and Tally are the current ties that bind but who’s to say the Kerry-Mayo connection won’t be renewed in the near future?
Ballinrobe’s Maurice Horan is still a mainstay in Tomás Ó Sé’s U20 Kerry management team.
The former Limerick senior manager had been part of Rochford’s management team as a performance analyst.
Top-level Gaelic football is a small world. Kerry and Mayo make it feel even smaller.
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