Jack O'Connor: 'There's a great sense of satisfaction'

Kerry football manager, Jack O'Connor, has been named this year's Gaelic Writers' Association Football Personality of the Year, proudly supported by Dalata Hotel Group.

Ahead of this evening's Awards Dinner at the Clayton Hotel in Ballsbridge, O'Connor reflected on the Kingdom's stunning year that saw them win a League and Championship double.

How was this year's All-Ireland success received in Kerry?

JC: For whatever reason, this one seemed to mean a bit more to Kerry people than some of the others. From where we were six weeks out from the final, after the Meath game.

People were pleasantly surprised, and the manner of the performances as well once we got to Croke Park caught the imagination. Good reaction down here, great crowds came out when we returned to Tralee, Killarney, Rathmore, Dingle, Kenmare in the week following. Great sense of satisfaction.

Did you belief waver when you hit that bump against Meath?

JC: Hindsight is a great thing and it's easy to say now that you waver. Of course we were questioning a lot of things after that Meath game. The way we handled it the following week and that we spoke openly and honestly to each other, management and players.

I think there was a renewed focus just to get things right. We were down a good few players going into the Meath game and some of those players are critical to the way we play and critical to the tone we set on the field, so that was a factor. The other thing, maybe we took our eye slightly off the ball and you would have to credit Meath, I thought they played exceptionally well on the day and proved afterwards they were a good team by taking out Galway. It was a combination of things.

It wasn't that we got one or two things wrong, it was just a combination of things that came together. Plus, we had a fair old spin up to Tullamore whereas Meath had a nice handy run down the road and all those factors come into it. It is a pretty intense season. Maybe a little bit of lethargy had set in.

David Clifford's words of fire seemed to spark the Kerry crowd?

JC: He was 100pc right because after the Armagh semi-final defeat in 2024, I said post match that I felt the Armagh crowd were a big factor in that game and I got criticism for it at the time but I would say it again tomorrow if I had to say it, because it was a factor.

We were well outnumbered in Croke Park that day. David was just stating facts. The crowd, in a tight game, are a factor. To be fair to the Kerry supporters, they responded in spades. David has the standing in Kerry that whatever he says goes. If I had said it, they might not have responded.

But when David said it, they did respond. He was playing so well this year, there were neutral supporters going to games to watch him perform. Why wouldn't Kerry come out in big numbers?

Was this David Clifford's best year yet for Kerry?

JC: I think it was. In the last couple of years he hasn't got a proper break. After winning in 2022, Fossa went all the way to the All-Ireland junior final and won it. He didn't have enough of a break. I know he was rested for a while but he still didn't get enough of a break.

The same was true the following year, we made up our mind that winter that he was going to get a proper break so he got the bones of four months by the time he finished his last club game to playing his first start for Kerry which was above in Pomeroy (v Tyrone), he got four months off.

And that was the first time he had enough time to basically switch off and have enough time to do his own bit of work, to come back and be ready to train properly. So it was no wonder he came back really refreshed. His first 2026 start in Pomeroy (against Tyrone) he scored three goals. That was a big factor. He is possibly hitting his prime, 26 years of age. He was just in great form this year, in great physical shape. Great mental shape.

After the Armagh 2024 defeat, you committed there and then to go on but it was a hard road that followed. The management team broke up, were there risks attached in that for you?

JC: I actually remember the man who asked me the question (in that 2024 post match briefing) was a Kerryman, I wasn't sure, was he trying to get rid of me!

At the time - that was a very tough defeat, that Armagh defeat because we looked to be in control of that game for a good spell and just a couple of incidents and then maybe a goal missed and a goal conceded changed the dynamics in the game and in the whole stadium. And the crowd was a factor. That was a tough defeat and you have to give a lot of credit to Armagh.

They smelt blood as soon as they got that break. They finished very strong. That was a tough defeat on the back of losing the final the year before.

Then the situation where the management broke up and having to basically deal with the whole fall out of that on my own and trying to put a new management together, that was tough going. No question about it. Well documented, it hit me pretty hard.

That was the period that I found the toughest. That eight to 10 week period where I was trying to deal with the fall out of the defeat and all that goes with that and then trying to put a new management together.
Plus, it wasn't the most attractive thing in the world to go in with me because I was in the last year of my term. So whoever was coming in with me, on the face of it, was coming for a year. That was also a factor.

After winning the League was there a good feeling going into the championship?

JC: I wouldn't be making a big deal about that. We could just as easily have got relegated. It isn't as if we set our own stall at the start of the year to win the league. By implication then that we'd win the championship.

I felt Donegal could have won the league if they wanted to win it with all guns blazing.
We almost won the league by default. But it's never any harm. The big thing for us is that it got us a game in Croke Park under the new rules.

We were very anxious to get a run out there because it plays different to provincial grounds. It's harder to defend in Croke Park under the new rules. The pitch plays very big. It can be difficult to cover the spaces.

Did the new rules suit your players?

JC: It suits David Clifford, it suits the teams that are more attack-minded. I'm not casting aspersions on anybody but it's a fact that we down here, as in the public, want to see that type of game. Maybe that's why they got so enthused about this year. That we were playing on the front foot, particularly when we went to Croke Park and putting up big scores.

We kicked 32 points against Armagh in the quarter-final. It suits a lot of teams, if they are that way inclined. We're not the only ones.

It gave a fella like David Clifford a new lease of life. Inside forwards don't want to be running 100 metres back the field chasing fellas. That's not what they play the game for.
Inside forwards are playing the game to win ball and kick scores and great scores. That's how they see the game, not chasing fellas back to their own full-back line.

Three year term first out, four-year term second time, now moving into a fifth year which is beyond any length of time you would have stayed before. It looked like you had the perfect off-ramp after Kerry's best All-Ireland in many years but you decided to go on. What's the draw?

JC: One of the big factors was you get a burst of energy after a win that you don't have before that. That was one thing. A critical factor was that as a management, we had functioned very well particularly in the second half of the year, around the quarter-final stage when we really got our act together. I felt I owed them. It wouldn't have looked great for me to take off and leave them.

Plus I would have spoken to a few of the players and they would have encouraged me to stick at it. And I can be categoric about this. There won't be a fourth term.
I remember making a comment that it was my last cut at it, people took that as it being my last year but I was saying it was my last term. And it would have been (last year) if we had lost the All-Ireland.

You looked like a man on the All-Ireland final evening satisfied with your football life's work?

JC: I was convinced going into the All-Ireland final that was it. The fall out from last year with the defeat from Armagh and trying to put a new management together, that took its toll on a personal level. I had discussed this with my wife Bridie, there is no way in my life I would be putting myself through that again.
I had convinced myself going into the All-Ireland this year that this would be my last cut. I wasn't playing games the night of the All-Ireland.

When you left after the 2006 All-Ireland Final the 2007 team won again at the peak of their powers. Did that experience shape the decision?

JC: I had no alternative to leave in 2006, I'll be honest. I was burned out. That was a time when I was doing the coaching myself and that was a particularly tough year. I was burned out, physically, mentally, emotionally, every way. Even if I wanted to stay on, I couldn't have stayed on. And I made the right decision, 100pc. Because I just needed to go away and decompress or whatever. By 2008 I was starting to get my energy back and I actually got involved with Kerins O Rahillys. We reached a county final and were beaten by a last minute penalty.

It's such an intense job, especially in Kerry where you're answerable to an awful lot of people. To a whole county who are football mad and a big panel of players. It is a pretty onerous enough job. You can get burned out.

This time, by and large, I wouldn't be as hands on and I think that is more sustainable, The way I was doing it in the past wasn't as sustainable. Particularly when I was working. I'm retired, I'm still pretty healthy, fit as well, I exercise a lot. I watch my diet and I don't drink too many pints. I have a better balance and it's more sustainable.

The way I was doing it before was absolutely full on and by the end of 2006 I was burned out. I was absolutely burned out.

Do you still cycle?

JC: Particularly on Sundays I'd get out and do 30 or 40k. Handy stuff. I used to cycle a bit with my brother but he is a better cyclist than me and he'd be putting me under too much pressure. I go away on my own and a nice route down by Ballinskelligs and over by Portmagee and St Finan's Bay.

What this the most enjoyable season yet for you?

JC: The one that I found that gave most satisfaction to the people of Kerry and that then gives me the most satisfaction. Sure that's why we're in it. We're in it, first of all to enjoy it and then to give pleasure to people. It is the number one pastime in Kerry, being interested in football.

So I said it to the lads during the year that we were privileged to be doing something that we love doing. Something that gives such satisfaction to a whole county, sure that's a great pursuit to be involved in. From that point of view it probably was the most satisfying but I'll tell you, they're all hard won.

2004 for me personally was a big one because it gave me some credibility. I was replacing a legend like Paidi. As I said before it wouldn't be much good, the county board putting me in to replace Paidi if I hadn't been able to win an All-Ireland. That gave me some credibility and I don't think the other successes would have followed if I hadn't won that one.