When the Kerry manager defines a turning point in the season, it is the half-forgotten match against Antrim in Tullamore, writes KEITH DUGGAN

JACK O’CONNOR cannot disguise his happiness. The long, turbulent summer has ended in vindication, in victory, in another All-Ireland title. That it was achieved against a heavyweight challenging side like Cork, in a taut and solemn game, made it all the more satisfying.

But like all men who are drawn to the vast and imperfect business of managing county teams, O’Connor is happiest about the fact that, in spite of everything – in spite of the localised world in which this Kerry team operate – his hunch was correct.

“There is a lot of satisfaction in this. We were being written off – fellas like Spillane now were almost feeling pity for us. But that is where you get the energy from; you get it from enjoying each other’s company and trying to build it up.

“And I just felt today that we were really right coming into the game. Because there was a bit of heat on Cork after the way they had performed all year and we were coming in slightly under the radar and that suited us well.

“We had a lot of changes down the middle of the field in the centre of the team since the game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh,” he continued. “So we had to pick the team apart and put it back together and it is difficult to do that while you are trying to win matches. You would normally do that in the league.

“We had Tommy Griffin at full back, Mike McCarthy at centre back, Séamus Scanlon at midfield, we had Declan O’Sullivan at full forward, and it is very satisfying when that comes off.

“The last couple that we won there, in ’04 and ’06, people said they were soft. Well, by Jesus, there was nothing soft about this one.”

What a peculiar and memorable championship season for the perennial All-Ireland men. Eclipsed by Cork in Munster. Then the strange and worrying second half in Longford, where they scraped by. On the ropes in Tralee against a gallant Sligo team that came preciously close to pulling off one of the great coups in the history of the association. They brushed with disaster once or twice. The wrathful destruction of Dublin in the familiar grandeur of Croke Park. That low-key, sodden semi-final win against Meath. And now Cork again.

Full circle and All-Ireland title 37. But when O’Connor defines a turning point, it is to the half-forgotten match against Antrim in Tullamore that he thinks about, when the focus of the nation was elsewhere.

“I felt 15 minutes into the second half against Antrim in Tullamore, Mike McCarthy drove the team on and he really stood up and was counted that day and other fellas played off him. So I think that he more than anyone turned the year for us.”

Persuading the Kilcummin man to return to county colours was one of the most audacious of the series of bold and decisive decisions that have distinguished O’Connor as a Kerry manager. It was interpreted at the time as a sign of desperation. Now, of course, it looks like a masterstroke.

Producing a stogie and smiling like George Peppard is not O’Connor’s style. He would be entitled to ham it up a little here, but, if anything, O’Connor appeared more content than anything. It all panned out perfectly.

Tommy Walsh, a troubled presence early in the championship, bloomed on the biggest day, thundering two second-half points that probably killed something deep in the Cork challenge. But as O’Connor testified, it was those unfashionable qualifying days that stood to his team.

“Think about it, lads. Cork rolled us down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, steamrolled Donegal and beat Tyrone comprehensively. So I felt that they hadn’t been in the battles we had been. People might say that it is only Longford, only Sligo, only Antrim, but I will tell you lads: they put us to the pin of our collar on all those days.”

Then his thoughts returned to this latest All-Ireland. “Tommy reacted the right way after the semi-final. That point there on the right hand side off the left hand side was a serious score. That was a serious score. That, and Marc Ó Sé’s interception were the two moments of the second half.”

He thought for a second when asked about what lay ahead.

“Premiership, I would say,” he deadpanned. “When Ferguson retires.”

“No, it has been great for us. Because people who know me personally know well that bringing home the cup is a huge thing for me, given the past history.”

The history is in good hands.