JACK O’Connor has definitely mellowed with age. That point-to-prove crankiness of the ‘Noughties’ has long since passed.
He doesn’t disown the earlier version of himself. Far from it.
But time has definitely softened the edges.
The former schoolteacher is in his third spell as Kerry senior football manager.
Having worked under Páidí Ó Sé as a selector in the early ‘Noughties’, he succeeded the Kerry legend at the end of the 2003 season.
He won All-Ireland titles in his first season in ’04 and again in ’06 before stepping down.
During his brief time away from the hot-seat, he wrote a brilliant, rough-edged memoir, entitled ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ in ’07 and was attracted back to the post in 2009, replacing the outgoing Pat O’Shea.
In his first season back he duly delivered another All-Ireland, his third.
He stepped away again at the end of 2012 and took on the county minors where he won back-to-back All-Irelands with them in 2014 and ’15.
You’d think two goes at the Kerry job would sate the appetite. But no. Every re-charge seemed to reignite the burning flame in Jack O’Connor.
He expressed an interest in another crack at the big job after Eamonn Fitzmaurice stepped down in August 2018 - the last Kerry manager to win an All-Ireland, in 2014 - but when he didn’t get it, he spread his wings and migrated to Kildare for a couple of seasons.
Once Peter Keane departed following last year’s gut-wrenching All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Tyrone, Kerry officials came calling on O’Connor a third time.
And here he is again: the proud native of Dromid from the Toorsaleen mountains (‘high field of the little sally trees’) standing on the cusp of another All-Ireland.
In each of his first years with the Kerry seniors, he’s delivered Gaelic football’s biggest prize, and he’ll be looking to keep that flawless record intact after Sunday’s All-Ireland joust with Galway.
But did he think his days of managing Kerry were over?
“Possibly, yeah,” O’Connor says.
“I’m not a spring chicken any more. I’m in my 60s now. I went for the job three years ago in a two-horse race and I didn’t get it. You know, I would’ve thought at that stage that was probably it.”
In life, timing is everything as O'Connor was unveiled as Kerry manager for a third time in October 2021.
“I think I’ve enjoyed it more this time around,” the Dromid Pearses man says. “I retired from teaching [in 2017] and I’ve a bit more time.
“If you’re working full-time and you’re managing an inter-county team, you are stressed because you’re not getting enough time to switch off and regenerate yourself and get your energy levels back up. I would definitely say I’m in a better position to do the job than when I got it before because of that particular reason.”
Is he calmer? More chilled maybe?
“I’m definitely calmer and more philosophical about the whole thing. When I first got the job in ’04, I came in as a successor to Páidí Ó Sé who was an absolute legend in Kerry. That wasn’t without controversy. Páidí wanted to continue in the job, so anyone who was coming after him was going to be under pressure, and I certainly felt that pressure. No question about it.”
On the surface, the Jack O’Connor version of 2022 is unrecognisable to the one that prowled the pages of his memoir, written some 15 years ago.
All those hard edges, controversies, the points to prove, always feeling the outsider, the rows and confrontations, trying to straighten things out down in Fitzgerald Stadium, all the while facing down the ‘bluebloods’ in the county. Yerra…
These days the chances of getting Jack on a good day are much higher than the brooding ‘Noughties’.
“I certainly would find it easier now to switch off than I used to. I think that comes from when you’re not working a full-time job – you’re more rested, you’re more relaxed.
“I go on long walks with my dog, I listen to a lot of stuff and leave the phone in the car. I exercise every day, I go to the gym, I do a bit of swimming, a bit of walking and I find it’s a great way to live your life.
“I think the older you get, the more philosophical you become. You see the woods from the trees and you say to yourself: ‘What’s the point in getting all uptight here.’
“A huge part of being a manager is setting the tone for the players. If the players see you getting uptight and all angst, it’s going to spread like wild-fire because it’s well known that much more beyond what you say to players they pick up so much from your body language.
“If you go into training not appearing to enjoy it, all anxious, worried and being cranky, that infects the atmosphere around the training.”
O’Connor adds: “A huge thing that I concentrate on is making sure I’m in good shape, that I’m well rested, that I’m fit. I go into training almost as if I’m ready to train myself if you know what I mean and showing enthusiasm.
“I think that’s the best message you can give to players – ‘This is the best time of your lives. Where else would you want to be?’"
He's been around teams of all different grades for the best part of four decades - school, club, minor, U21, senior - and is showing no signs of taking his foot off the gas.
“Am I addicted to it?" he muses. “Sure I probably am. It just gives me huge fulfilment. You’re involved with young lads in the prime of their lives.
“No matter what the grade is, they’re trying to achieve something. It doesn’t overly bother me what level of teams I’m involved in. I got as much satisfaction out of some of the school All-Irelands that we won down in South Kerry as I ever did out of winning any senior All-Ireland with Kerry, and that’s a fact.
"When your young fella [Eanna] scores the match-winning goal in the Hogan Cup final [for Colaiste Na Sceilge] in 2009, it doesn’t come any better than that.
“Once I’m involved in a group that has their heart set on achieving something and they’re dedicated and they’re good lads, I never minded what grade I’ve been involved with."
This summer has been a bit of a breeze for the Kerry footballers. Well, almost.
They didn’t need to get out of second gear as they swept to their 83rd Munster title, swatting Clare, Cork and Limerick in the process before jabbing their way to an impressive All-Ireland quarter-final win over Mayo at Croke Park.
They big test awaiting them, however, was Dublin in the semi-finals where Kerry played an outstanding game and won by the narrowest of margins.
“When we left Fitzgerald Stadium on the Thursday before the Dublin game the last message I gave to the players was: ‘Listen lads, we can’t even contemplate not being back here next Tuesday night because it’s so enjoyable. It would be some kick in the cojones not to be back here preparing for an All-Ireland final.’
“Sometimes it comes down to something as basic as that; players find it so enjoyable that they can’t contemplate the thing coming to an end.”
In the first half, David Clifford played football from another stratosphere, and Sean O’Shea wasn’t far behind him.
At the other end of the field Ciaran Kilkenny and Cormac Costello were tied up by the Kerry backs.
One of the most glowing aspects of Kerry’s display on a sweltering afternoon in Croke Park was how their backs tackled ferociously and fairly, hunting down and turning over anyone in Sky Blue that had the temerity to hold onto the ball for longer than they should have.
“We went into the game with the mind-set that we didn’t want to give Dean Rock nine opportunities to kick points from frees. He’d hit a lot of frees in the previous game, so that was a big thing – to tackle well without fouling them.”
And as for Sean O’Shea’s now-legendary monster free in the last seconds of stoppage-time that arced perfectly between Dublin’s posts, O’Connor didn't think for a second he could convert it.
“In the circumstances it was an incredible kick. If you’re asking me did I think it was kickable – I didn’t. I had mentally switched towards extra-time.
“Look, the fact that we won a tight game, it’s maybe a thing we haven’t been able to do over the last few years,” he says.
“I’m just hoping from here on that is in the bank now that they can draw on when they get into similar circumstances in the future because they are great games to win.”
While Ciaran Kilkenny was nullified in the first half, Dublin’s go-to man exploded into life in the second period and between the Castleknock man and James McCarthy, the pair almost pulled the game out of the fire.
After the game, TV footage showed O’Connor seeking out Kilkenny, tapping him on the shoulder and congratulating him on his display.
“It was completely spontaneous,” O’Connor says.
“I happened to be coming off the field and I just thought, on the day, he was incredible in the last 15 minutes because the man who was marking him, Brian Ó Beaglaioch, played really, really well for us but Ciaran Kilkenny really imposed himself on that game and almost singlehandedly got Dublin back into it late on.
“The last point he got running away from the goal and kicking over his shoulder was just a magnificent score. In keeping with the spirit of the game I thought I should acknowledge how good he was.”
But, with an All-Ireland final on Kerry’s radar, O’Connor doesn’t particularly want to dwell on their semi-final win.
All eyes are fixed on the Tribe and working out a way to stop Damien Comer, Shane Walsh and Paul Conroy.
Last week, the media were invited to the Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney for Kerry’s All-Ireland final press day where Jack, a couple of players and selectors were made available for interview.
It was different to what the GAA media have been used to in 2022 where there’s been little or no access to inter-county teams.
It was a marathon day for the Kerry manager. Four hours and roughly 20 interviews later – which included half a dozen each for both radio and television as well as print requests – O’Connor was drained.
“That’s been our philosophy all year,” he says. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously. Well, I don’t anyway.
“There are no trade secrets, really. What are you trying to hide? These players and those involved are intelligent people. They’re not going to say anything stupid.
“Sometimes I get myself into trouble for not being as clever as I should be when I’m asked a question. My wife often tells me that I talk too much!
“That’s the way I live my life. If somebody asks me a question, I give them a genuine answer, and if somebody wants to take something out of that, then they can. I think you have to live your life in an authentic way.
“If you do that you’ll never go too far astray. I’d say to the lads, ‘We’re going to enjoy this.’
“This isn’t about gritting your teeth and putting your life on hold for six months to try and win an All-Ireland. We’ve got to enjoy this as we go along. I think talking to people and expressing yourself is part of that.”
One man who Kerry kept away from the media’s gaze – and probably to his eternal relief – was Tyrone man Paddy Tally.
O’Connor jokes that the Tyrone’s 2003 All-Ireland-winning trainer and more recently Down manager has enjoyed sampling the golf courses down in Kerry but doesn’t underestimate what the Galbally man has brought to the Kingdom this season.
“I’ve known Paddy for a few years. When you’re in these circles you get to know who the good coaches are.
“When I was in Kildare over the last few years we played Down a few times in challenge games. And I just developed a bit of a relationship with him.
“Kerry had been coming and I that maybe there was something missing; just to give us an outside voice, a different perspective. You’re looking for percentages.
“I’m not saying there aren’t good coaches in Kerry because there are. I’ve two good men with me in Mike [Quirke] and Diarmuid [Murphy] who really contribute to the coaching.
“Paddy would give us that outside perspective and sometimes you need that to tell you where your failings are, you know. I’ve always been open to bringing people in. My first year involved with Kerry I brought in a Waterford man who was living in Kerry called Pat Flanagan to do the S&C.
“He was a very good fella and ahead of his time and brought us on. We’ve an Armagh man Jason McGahan, our S&C coach, down here at the moment. So I’ve never been slow in embracing outside people, anyone who can give you a different perspective.
“And it just so happened Paddy was taking a sabbatical from his job in St Mary’s and he was available. I think Paddy has enjoyed himself down here and has really contributed.”
Time is a merciless line.
In the midst of them, there was always this inarticulate, crazy belief that we'd live forever in the invincible ‘Noughties’. Kerry, Tyrone, Armagh, Mayo, Billy Morgan’s Cork.
And Mickey Harte and Jack O’Connor standing undaunted in the face of a scorching wind.
Croke Park bursting at the seams. The marching band playing with energy and verve and the butterflies buzzing around in the pits of our stomachs. Days where you never felt more alive…
A little older than before, Dromid's force of nature is back for more on Sunday.
You ask does legacy matter to him, and he laughs at the grandiose premise of the question.
“It never bothers me what people think of me. There’s a guy, Wayne Dyer, I listen to who has a great saying: ‘Whatever people think of you is none of your business.’
“I’ve a certain philosophy on coaching and playing styles that I believe in, whether people like it or don’t like it, it’s none of my business, really.
“Inside Fitzgerald Stadium there are portraits of people hanging up in the corridor on your way from the dressing room – Kerry greats: Mick O’Connell, Mick O’Dwyer, Darragh O Se, the ‘Gooch’, all those boys.
“And there are a few pictures of people who managed Kerry. While I was waiting for the boys to come out the other night, I was just looking at these images.
“A couple of them caught my eye. One of them was Dr Eamonn O’Sullivan. He managed and coached Kerry to eight All-Irelands in five different decades. What a record that is!
“So, if you ever get too far ahead of yourself down here that wouldn’t be long straightening you out.
“And I was just looking at Mick O’Dwyer’s record. It’s up on the wall there too. He won five All-Irelands as a player and 11 Munster Championships. He won eight All-Irelands as a manager and 12 Munster Championships.
“Now, think about that for a second. When you see something like that you don’t get too bothered about your ‘legacy’ [laughing]. There is no point when you’ve people like that. What I have achieved pales into insignificance when you see stuff like that…
“Páidí Ó Sé used to say: ‘There’s nothing like a fortnight before an All-Ireland and being inside Fitzgerald Stadium.’
“Normally the All-Ireland would be in September and the nights would be starting to close in and at the end of a training session you might do a lap of the field to cool down and the lads at the back of the lap wouldn't see the fellas at the front.
“And Páidí would say: ‘That feeling of jogging around Fitzgerald Stadium in the gathering dusk.’ That’s where he wanted to be every year.”
