Joe O'Connor: 'The positive was that I had a year to work on my physique and work on my sprinting'
O'Connor had been on the periphery of the Kerry team when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament for Austin Stacks in September of the year. The time away to build up his power was huge.
'The positive was that I had a year to work on my physique and work on my sprinting and stuff like that. I probably wouldn't be able to if I was just playing game after game.
'That's what I tried to do with the S&Cs and the physios. Try and get work on so I can come back in way better shape. I probably did come back in better shape.'
So when the Kerry management asked him to take and give more hits in 2024, O'Connor was ready and able. For the second season in a row, he was an ever-present this year.
'They kind of asked me for that role to be physical and just to get tackles around the middle and then Cian O'Neill came in this year and kind of went after my attacking game and tried to really test me that way and try to make me a better player, which helped me a lot with my confidence and just take it game-by-game, really.'
O'Connor was All-Ireland winning captain in 2022 but this latest victory feels more whole having played a substitute's role back then. 'It was a tricky enough year probably being captain and getting token minutes and getting probably five or six minutes off the bench and it was just a weird enough position for me, but I wasn't happy with that and I wanted to break in, and I just felt like I wouldn't stop until I would be a starter.'
Then came the cruciate tear, which presented more of a mental hurdle. 'I was 23 or 24 when I did it, so I wasn't getting games at the time and a lot of doubts creeping in, will I ever get in and all that, so I had to deal with that and just keep ploughing on.'
Despite a superb individual season, middle third players like O'Connor came in for heat following the final All-Ireland SFC group game loss to Meath. 'It probably was a bit over-the-top the criticism but we had to use that as fuel as well. It probably gave us a kick in the right direction. We've obviously been called plenty of things like a soft team and a one-man team. Players hear that as well. We try to use that as fuel to prove people wrong.'
The new rules have meant more longer kick-outs and O'Connor thrives on those aerial duels. 'Last year you might get one or two a game where it's pumped out or it's just getting clipped out to the corner and it was hard enough to get into the game, whereas now two or three minutes in, there's one coming right on top of you, so it just makes it way easier for the middle eight to get into the game where you're just attacking the ball and, just trying to get hands on ball and loads of opportunities to contest, so it's much better for us.'
The move to wing-forward was to become a longer kick-out option for Shane Ryan, says O'Connor. 'Probably just needed a few big long kick-out options like with the rules so, that's what the management want and they just said they'd push me out to the wing, towards the end of the league and see how it worked out just to try it and I thought it worked well.'
O'Connor's 70th minute goal was the cherry and his first since SFC matchday one, the Munster semi-final against Cork. 'I actually was getting a good few goal chances and I had to work on it because in the Tyrone game I was ballooning them over the bar and stuff, so actually worked in it for the last few weeks and chatting a good bit to the 'keepers and stuff.
'But rush of blood really, I just had a pop, but no it was class feeling like into the Hill and just the way the game was probably over at that stage as well, it was very special like and the crowd was lifting.'
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