Kerry Hero Explains How Devastating Injury Helped Turn Him Into Inter-County Star

Despite the fact that the majority of the plaudits in the aftermath of Kerry's All-Ireland winning campaign will likely go to David Clifford, it could be argued that the development of one of his teammates has been an even bigger story during the 2025 season.

Joe O'Connor has been in and around the Kerry panel for a number of years, although he has never quite managed to nail down a permanent spot in the starting team. Despite being an All-Ireland winning captain in 2022 on the back of his club Austin Stacks' county title win, he was not viewed as a key member of the side.

That has all changed this season.

O'Connor has been in exceptional form in this year's championship, being named man-of-the-match in the semi-final win over Tyrone. He would go on to score the goal that capped off their stunning victory over Donegal in the All-Ireland final.

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Joe O'Connor's recent rise has been a remarkable one, with the player himself providing an unexpected source for some of his improvements in over the last 18 months or so.

The midfielder would suffer a devastating Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury in 2022, something that rule him out for the entirety of the 2023 campaign. While that was a massive blow at the time, it is something which may have benefitted him in the long run.

Speaking in the aftermath of Sunday's final, O'Connor summed up how the ACL injury allowed him to get his body right to better cope with the demands placed on him in the Kerry setup.

The positive was that I had a year to work on my physique and work on my sprinting and stuff like that. I probably wouldn't be able to if I was just playing game after game.

That's what I tried to do with the S&Cs and the physios. Try and get work on so I can come back in way better shape. I probably did come back in better shape...

They kind of asked me for that role to be physical and just to get tackles around the middle and then Cian O'Neill came in this year and kind of went after my attacking game and tried to really test me that way and try to make me a better player, which helped me a lot with my confidence and just take it game-by-game, really...

I was 23 or 24 when I did it, so I wasn't getting games at the time and a lot of doubts creeping in, will I ever get in and all that, so I had to deal with that and just keep ploughing on.

There is no doubt that Joe O'Connor has taken his game to a new level in recent times, with his form looking set to be rewarded with a first All-Star award later this year. He could even find himself among the nominees for Footballer of the Year, although David Clifford remains the heavy favourite for that particular gong.

His story is certainly one of perseverance, responding to a major injury blow by improving as a player and becoming a key contributor for Kerry.

It is something that plenty of other players can look to take inspiration from.