'I was inside here a month ago and there steam coming out of my ears' - Jack O'Connor
Declan Bogue Reports from Croke Park
IN THE END, he shared a little anecdote of home life, painting a picture of a man heading out to take training, his bag over his shoulder, heading off to train the Kerry footballers on a summer’s evening.
“And my missus took a picture of me going out the gate,” said Jack O’Connor.
“And I already know that’ll be up on the wall, that was my last, so I’d say no, she’ll be framing that one.”
You can imagine it. Sepia-toned perhaps for added poignance. It’s been the job that has defined his life and made him one of the most decorated managers Gaelic football.
And still, Jack O’Connor’s gifts are downplayed. It’s why, after the win over Armagh, he had a go at those inside his own county that he felt was doing him down.
“I’d ask people who are knocking the group, ‘What have you contributed to Kerry football off the field?” he said back then.
Revisiting that, he said here, “Obviously, delighted for myself because it was a tough old year. I found this a tough year.
“I was inside here a month ago and there was a lot of steam coming out of my ears. It wasn’t faked or it wasn’t put on. It was authentic because I felt that we were getting a lot of unfair stick and we were trying our butts off and have been from the start of the year.
“So, for us to finally get the reward is great.”
He’s been appreciated by the right people though. Asked about the departed Mick O’Dwyer and how much he was in O’Connor’s thoughts this season, he relayed another yarn.
“Micko, you know, he’s created a great history and tradition in Kerry and the rest of us are only trotting after him now. (It’s) A bit sentimental for me because I brought the cup to him to his house in ‘22 and we had a nice half an hour of a chat there,” he said.
“And there was a nice photograph taken, so I treasure that always because you know he was an idol of mine as I say.
“He’s created the history and the rest of us really try.”
From the third minute, they started compiling a lead that Donegal could never wipe out. They decimated the Ulster champions.
“Yeah, we were very determined leaving the hotel this morning,” he revealed.
“I had a few words with them just before we got on the bus that we were going to take the game to Donegal. We weren’t going to sit back and just see what they had to offer. We were really going after them.
“We were going after (Shaun) Patton’s kickouts. We were going to drive on. I thought Gavin White was sensational in the first quarter. A real captain’s example.
“There were a few pivotal moments. I thought David’s two pointer on the stroke of halftime was a big, big score. Just gave us a cushion going in at halftime and just gave the lads a lot of belief.”
Complacency for them at the break was their enemy after going in 0-17 to 0-10 up. Fortunately for them and unfortunately for Cork, they had the perfect example last weekend.
“Our mantra at halftime was we weren’t going to collapse like you saw probably with the Cork hurlers maybe last week. We were going to go out and try and win the second half. There were times, I mean, Donegal didn’t wave any white flag out there. They brought that back from, I’d say, nine points back to four points and they were still highly dangerous.
“Massive effort. Massive effort. Big contribution from an awful lot of players.
“Just thrilled for them because, as I said, we had a rough all year and it’s nice to see it coming together in the end.”
Perhaps their energy caught Donegal. They flew into that early lead Donegal seemed shell-shocked at their ferocity. When Shaun Patton looked for their kickouts, he aimed across his body and more often than not, Michael Murphy was the intended target.
Kerry had Jason Foley nearby to do a bit of shunting and bumping. They also had Joe O’Connor and Gavin White gathering up an obscene amount of breaks.
And they had David Clifford. In general play, he wasn’t a major figure. But his shooting was insane. With the weight of an entire counties expectations on his shoulders, how did O’Connor manage that?
“See, David, David has a unique temperament, you know. He just takes it in his stride,” said O’Connor.
“Of course he must have felt pressure and he knew he was going to get a lot of heat. But you know, when we spoke about it during the week and he said, look, if I’m double marked and triple marked, he said, I just, I’ll just win it and slip it.
“And he’s humble enough to create scores for other people and he was a massive part of all we done there, because he kicked three two-pointers and particularly the one on the stroke of halftime was just inspirational for us going in, just get an extra zip ourselves.
“But yeah, how he deals with the weight of expectation, I have no idea. It’s his unique temperament.”
And then there’s his brother Paudie, who controlled the game from start to finish, albeit Donegal allowed that to happen.
“Paudie’s just coming back to himself after a long injury and we felt that he was coming good,” he explained.
“He handled some amount of ball out there and he just calmed things down and a big part of playing Donegal is getting value out of your attacks and don’t turn it over.
“I think Meath found that out when they didn’t work the Donegal defence. They just took potshots from outside the arc looking for two pointers.
“Now you take the two pointers when they’re on, but you don’t force them and you work their defenders.”
The next thing will grab the attention though.
“I thought we worked the Donegal defenders and that in turn takes away a bit of their legs for going the other way,” he says.
“I thought that was a big factor. I didn’t think that the likes of Roarty and Morgan and McHugh had a big influence in that game.
“Attacking wise, I think a lot of that has to do with the patience we showed in the attack, and keeping them out of it.”
A masterclass. Kerry will soon miss him.
*
Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
The 42
