Enthusiastic O'Connor happy to remain at the Kerry helm

NEWS:THERE WAS a definite sense of unfinished business in the way Jack O'Connor described his reasons for continuing as Kerry senior football manager for a further three years. He admitted the defeat to Down in the All-Ireland quarter-final came like a "bolt out of the blue" but also claimed he still has the energy and enthusiasm to go on, and reckons most of the Kerry panel do too.

“It was a tough enough decision, to be honest,” said O’Connor, speaking on Radio Kerry, “because when you are going into an All-Ireland quarter final, and on the road as long as we were, you don’t contemplate defeat. It was like a bolt out of the blue, and it was very difficult for a couple of weeks. But time is a great healer and once we thawed out a small bit after those couple of weeks, there is always hope and after that period, I was beginning to think favourably of it again.

“It’s something that you only do while you have the energy to do it. I still have the energy and the enthusiasm. And I just got the hunger to go again because I think there is a bright future for Kerry football, despite the fact that there are always inquisitions after defeats and there was a bit of doom and gloom around the place.

“You had the same scenario in 2003 after the Tyrone defeat and the losses in the two previous years to Armagh and to Meath. They were three years when things did not go right. This team has been on the go for the last six to eight years . . I think that the break will do them a lot of good.”

O’Connor added that Kerry are still undergoing a period of transition, but that the future was as bright as ever: “I suppose the signs were there last year, especially early in the season that this team, as such, were coming to the end of the road. But by rejigging and bringing in a few new players, we managed to re-energise the team and the trip through the qualifiers helped as well . . .

“But I don’t think there were any alarm bells ringing this year because we won a good Munster championship. I think a lot of factors then conspired against us which did not allow us to perform in Croke Park against Down. You had that four-week break, our preparation was a bit fractured because fellows picked up injuries in club matches and suspensions.

“But I’m not making excuses. I am only saying that the Kerry team did not do itself justice in Croke Park against Down. If we can get bit of freshness back and a new-found enthusiasm, I think that we will be okay next year”

Former goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy has come on board to replace Eamonn Fitzmaurice as one of O’Connor’s selectors, although there are no indications so far of any player retirements.

O’Connor admitted Kerry’s exit from the championship wasn’t bad for the game in general: “It’s been a very good championship, and I can see why the neutrals were probably so happy that Kerry was out of it. You have Down there coming with a vibrant team and a good manager and they are playing very attractive football and that has to be good for the game.”

Meanwhile Kildare county chairman Pádraig Ashe is hoping Kieran McGeeney will commit to another term as senior football manager “sooner rather than later”. McGeeney’s three-year term came to an end with Kildare’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Down last Sunday. But Ashe is confident he will stay on, possibly for another three years.

“I haven’t changed what my intention has been since I came in as chairman and I have made that clear to Kieran as well,” said Ashe.

“I have always wanted Kieran to stay, and that was from before we went on this great run. And whatever Kieran is comfortable with I’ll have no problem with.”

A deadline of next Monday has also been set by Galway officials who are hopeful of having the county’s new football manager in place by the end of September. Former Limerick and Laois boss Liam Kearns remains the bookies’ favourite but several other candidates have emerged.

Galway hurling officials have written to the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee requesting a change of venue for the All-Ireland Under-21 hurling final meeting with Tipperary, which has been set for Thurles on Saturday week.

Galway hurling board chairman Joe Byrne said: “We feel it is very unfair on us to have to go and take Tipperary on not only in their home venue but where they train.

“We have nothing against the venue and Galway teams have always enjoyed playing in Semple Stadium, but it is an entirely different matter taking on Tipperary there in an All-Ireland final, not least as there are plenty of neutral venues such as Limerick, Portlaoise and Tullamore, some of which have floodlights as well.”

But a Croke Park source said: “I can understand Galway’s point of view but the CCCC has made its decision. I think Semple Stadium is an excellent venue because it’s easily accessible to nearly all hurling counties and a lot of work has been done there in recent years so we’d be hoping it would be a special occasion both this year and in the years ahead.”