Seán O’Shea raring to get going as anticipation builds in Kerry for another big year

Seán O’Shea was at home on the couch, dry and warm, watching as his team-mates were getting battered by the elements and the opposition in Ballybofey, howling wind and driving rain, all capped off with conceding a last-gasp winner. Hello January.

The following week Jack O’Connor’s men were back in the groove as they toyed with Monaghan to pick up a solid victory. In the grand scheme of things, those experiences from the opening two rounds of the Allianz League won’t linger long in the Kerry dressingroom.

Still, after the mid-league break and with a touch of spring now in the air, it feels like the season is about to open up. O’Shea missed the first two games of the league because of a knee injury, but having gone through a period of rest and rehab he could feature against Mayo on Saturday night in Castlebar.

“Yeah, hopefully now this weekend,” says O’Shea. “If not, then the weekend after, but please God this weekend I’ll be able to see some bit of action.”

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The challenge for Kerry this year is to try achieve what no side from the county has managed since 2006-07, retain Sam Maguire. O’Shea, predictably, and without breaking for thought, says back-to-back All-Ireland titles is not something the players have been thinking about. Which sets them apart as some of the only folk in the Kingdom not to have done so over recent months.

Still, O’Shea admits last year’s All-Ireland success arrived packaged as much with overwhelming relief as unbridled joy. More than even wanting to get over the line, Kerry just needed to.

“Definitely, huge relief,” he says. “I suppose when you want something for so long, since a young fellah growing up you wanted to win an All-Ireland, so to finally achieve that goal and tick that one off, there was definitely a lot of relief in it.”

Despite enjoying underage success, O’Shea’s introduction to senior intercounty football had some disappointing days – championship losses to Dublin, Tyrone and Cork in particular.

“I suppose they made you stronger in a way as well, you learn from them,” he says. “When things don’t go your way you try come back the next year stronger.

“They are part of the journey as well I suppose and when you got there maybe they made it more enjoyable, because you had been on the other side of those results, and you knew how tough it was when you didn’t come out on the right side of them.”

The kick, that kick, against Dublin last summer catapulted O’Shea to a new level of recognition. Despite his age, the 24-year-old is one of the leaders of this Kerry team. He is one of the players kids idolise, though like the rest of us he has seen the post-match videos of the cheerful pop-star levels of mania reserved for David Clifford in recent months.

“Those videos are great to watch with the kids streaming on the pitch to meet David after a game, straight from the first round of the Kerry championship all the way through he was getting that,” says O’Shea.

“It’s lovely to see kids with smiles on their faces and enjoying going to games and that’s a huge part of it. It’s a great organisation to be in and if you can get kids interested at a young age it’s great.

“They’ll remember that forever, running on to the field and meeting someone like David, so it is lovely to see from that point of view.

“They are going home that evening delighted with themselves and probably go out the back of the house kicking ball and that’s where it all starts. I’m sure a lot of our panel were the same when we were younger going to a lot of matches.”

A secondary schoolteacher in Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine, where he teaches geography and Irish, he has been coaching the school’s senior football team. However, he hopes to get back on the field himself this weekend when Kerry face Mayo – and if he does feature it will be his first appearance in green and gold since last year’s All-Ireland final win over Galway.

“The Saturday night games are unbelievable. There’s just something about playing under lights and the atmosphere,” says O’Shea. “Obviously the Mayo supporters are unbelievable, they’re great supporters, really energetic.

“I was out for the game last year in Tralee, a Saturday night game, I was sitting with a few of the lads beside a Mayo supporter. We had great craic, she was giving us plenty of it anyway in the stand. There was good old banter between us.

“Looking forward to going to Mayo. They’ll be really tough and really physical I suppose and play with serious intensity. We know we’ll have to try to match that.”

– Seán O’Shea was speaking at the announcement of Allianz’s new sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. The three-year deal also sees Allianz become official sponsor of both the Camogie Association and the GAA Museum at Croke Park.