Gaelic Games

Seán O’Shea: ‘There’s something about those nights under lights in the league’

O’Shea is as desperate as any of the supporters to become more regularly acquainted with the Sam Maguire Cup

Now with Moran retired and Jack Barry, his midfield partner in 2022, opting out for the year, they need a new general to come forth. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho

Paul Keane
Fri Feb 16 2024 - 06:00

Looking out the window of corporate box number 659 at Croke Park, Seán O’Shea is invited to recall and reminisce upon that score two years ago.

It’s already the stuff of legend, the kick that downed the Dubs, a free struck from somewhere around the Canal End rail line. With the wind coming at him like a freight train.

The Kerry forward, here to mark his appointment as the GAA’s Irish Language Ambassador for 2024, could easily jump in and add to the lore but immediately demurs.

“It’s well in the past now, it’s well forgotten about,” he shrugged. “There will be time later on in your career when you can look back on the good days and the bad days but, for now, it’s totally gone.”

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Indulgence wouldn’t be accepted around Kerry anyhow, not for a solitary All-Ireland win across almost a decade. O’Shea is as desperate as any of the supporters to become more regularly acquainted with the Sam Maguire Cup.

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But there are issues to be addressed first. Talk to any of those same supporters and they’ll probably tell you that midfield is the biggest of them. With O’Shea, who is featuring closer to goal this season and already has 3-25 racked up since the start of the McGrath Cup, and the Cliffords also approaching their peak years in attack, that area should take care of itself. They have a terrific goalkeeper in Shane Ryan too, operating behind a defence that just two years ago was as miserly as you could come across when winning the All-Ireland.

But midfield, that is a conundrum. They’ve always had weighty anchor men there, from David Moran to Darragh Ó Sé to Jack O’Shea to Mick O’Connell. That’s more than 60 years of midfield leadership. Now with Moran retired and Jack Barry, his midfield partner in 2022, opting out for the year, they need a new general to come forth.

Former captain Joe O’Connor, just back from a cruciate injury, has been even present so far this year and may partner Diarmuid O’Connor again tomorrow evening against Mayo in Round 3 of the National League.

“We’d back our midfield to compete against any of the midfields in the country,” said O’Shea. “It’s an area that we feel we’re well equipped to take on any team really.

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“There are some great lads there. I suppose at the moment you’re kind of looking at Diarmuid, you’re looking at Joe, you’re looking at Barry Dan [O’Sullivan], you have Seán O’Brien, you have Adrian Spillane as well who has played there. There’s a few different fellas who can go in there on a given day. So we’re well stocked in that department.”

O’Shea has played a bit there himself, for club and county. Stefan Okunbor is another who could do a job while Marc Ó Sé threw out the versatile Mike Breen as a possible wild card choice.

What’s certain is that having Joe O’Connor back is a good thing. On and off the field, the effervescent Austin Stacks man who lifted the Sam Maguire Cup jointly with O’Shea in 2022 – O’Connor was captain but didn’t start a Championship game – is a considerable boost.

He’s a great fella, I have great time for Micheál. I’d be in touch with him a good bit. He’s obviously going to be a big loss for us

“It’s a long old process,” said O’Shea of O’Connor’s journey back from a cruciate injury suffered a couple months after the All-Ireland win. “Jeez, he worked so hard away on his own to get himself into unbelievable shape. He did everything by the book, and more. A lot of fellas will do that and they won’t make it back, they might get another injury or something might go wrong in the rehab process. It’s great for Joe and it’s great for us as a group. He’s a great character and a great fella to have around. He brings really positive energy around the group.”

One player who definitely won’t pull on a Kerry jersey again this term is Micheál Burns. The experienced Dr Crokes forward started the narrow Round 1 defeat to Derry but was overlooked for the subsequent Monaghan game and has left the panel.

In the end, the juice simply wasn’t worth the squeeze for him.

“You see it with every panel, there comes a day where a fella is deciding to step away from it and maybe approach life in ... to maybe look for something else in life,” said schoolteacher O’Shea. “He’s a great fella, I have great time for Micheál. I’d be in touch with him a good bit. He’s obviously going to be a big loss for us.”

As for the visit of Mayo, who beat Kerry in the Championship in Killarney last May, O’Shea is excited.

“There will be a special atmosphere,” he predicted. “There’s something about those nights under lights in the league, pure darkness and you’re playing under lights. They’re a great occasion to be part of.”

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