Jack O'Connor lets rip at Kerry critics and hints All-Ireland glory could be his last dance
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Kerry manager Jack O'Connor hinted that he may not continue in 2026
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Kerry manager Jack O'Connor during homecoming celebrations in Tralee after his fifth All-Ireland with the Kingdom
Despite a host of his top men being unavailable against the Royals in Tullamore, O'Connor's side faced a wave of criticism inside and outside the county after defeat cost them top spot in their All-Ireland series group.
But they responded with an preliminary quarter-final win over Cavan and then produced sizzling displays to see off Armagh, Tyrone and, on Sunday,
And after Sunday's masterful display in a decider won 1-26 to 0-19, he said: 'It wasn't about me personally.
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"It was just that we were putting in an incredible effort, everybody, but on the back of one bad day out we were being written off and disrespected.
'Sometimes you just get p***ed off with that because the people who are doing the criticising are most of the time hurlers on the ditch who don't put in the same effort themselves with teams.
'I was just pig-sick of some of the people that were criticising me and the team. Because as I said, that's the easiest thing in the world to do is criticise.
'We were working like Trojans, working like dogs to try and get this right and when you've people throwing out loose comments, it does annoy you.
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'That was a case of me having my fill of that, saying, 'To hell with this'. That's all I was doing.
"I'm normally not like that. You've listened to me a long time, I normally give stock answers at these press briefings but I had reached a point where I was just up to my tonsils with it, you know?
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'I had a bit of a rant, but sure there is no harm at times to leave off a bit of steam.'
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But O'Shea excelled in the Armagh game, Clifford was everywhere in the final and his brother David was destroying all before him in the run-in, with a host of the county's less heralded stars also hitting peak form in recent weeks.
Despite all his panel coming together to silence the critics, O'Connor, 64, admitted after Sunday's win that it could be his last hurrah as boss after winning his fifth Sam Maguire in his third stint in the job.
After a tough year, the Dromid Pearses man is not sure if he can do it all over again — but no decision has been made.
Speaking yesterday, he said: 'It isn't like I'm playing hard to get. It's not like that. I'm a long time at this now.
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'I found last year particularly tough, I have to say, and I'm not sure I can put myself through that stuff again because when you reach a certain age, your priorities change a bit.
'There's a lot of other things I like doing. I like playing a bit of golf. I like spending time with my grandson Jack, who's mad for golf as well.
He'd be around the lawn with a golf club, learning to swing it. I live in a nice part of the country and I enjoy being out in nature and going out at my old homestead in Dromid, stuff like that.
'We'll see. I'll leave it settle for a couple of weeks. I won't hang people out to dry or keep people hanging on.
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'I'll have a think about it. I had only one or two hours' sleep last night, so now isn't a great time to be making a decision.'
Kerry capped their summer with their best performance of the season on Sunday.
They schooled Donegal by ten points to storm over the line as star man David Clifford fired 0-9, O'Shea hit 0-6 and Paudie conducted the orchestra up front.
Joe O'Connor scored a smashing goal to cap a brilliant individual display and season, while captain Gavin White was influential from start to finish as Donegal's swift running game never took off.
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From the throw-in, Mark O'Shea got the touch and White picked up and stormed forward to feed Dylan Geaney to score after 12 seconds. The tone was set and Kerry never looked back.
PROUD AS PUNCH
A proud O'Connor said: 'What pleased me was that on the biggest day of the year, we had probably our best performance. That's what pleased me.
'And what pleased me was the way that the lads took the game to Donegal from the off.
'Gavin winning the breaking ball from the throw-in, driving on, slipping it to Dylan Geaney, a young forward in his first All-Ireland, kicking a great score off his left foot.
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"A young lad in a final kicks a point with his first touch, a lot of good things happening there.
'Our midfielder gets a tap down, playing in his first final, a lot of good stuff happening in that move. That's the start you want. You set the tone, the captain leads by example.'
Kerry ultimately thrived under football's new rules this year. They fired five two-pointers to Donegal's none on Sunday, which proved a big part of the difference.
O'Connor admits the changes have revolutionised the sport in their first Championship.
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He said: 'By and large, they've got an awful lot right. It's a much more enjoyable product now.
'I would say that it's almost taking the game back to where it used to be where there was a bit more kicking and a bit more space.
'It's still pretty tactical, particularly against opposition that set up zonally, you have to pick your moments and work your scores but it's a far more enjoyable game than it used to be."
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