Jack O'Connor

In Kerry, winning All-Irelands is part of their DNA. There is a feeling in the county that the Sam Maguire should have a permanent residence within The ...

I'm a bit long in the tooth to be feeling pressure." Paul [Geaney] was getting on a lot of possession but was a little bit jittery with it, so we just thought we would bring Killian [Spillane] in to steady it up. Jack O'Connor returned to manage the county for the third time, bringing with him a winning pedigree. It's like a religion down there, it's in our blood and it means everything. They have an incredibly talented squad, one that was anointed as the next force in the game many years ago. The wait is now over.

“I'd a couple of meetings with him there at the start of the year,” the Kerry manager reflected after victory over Galway. “He wasn't making the team and we ...

"We had the experience of the Dublin game to fall back upon. "Diarmuid [O’Connor] we thought would give them a bit of bother around the middle of the field with his legs. "We felt that he wasn’t going to last the game. It was, but it was more than just those two switches which rejuvenated the Kingdom’s challenge. I felt that we weren’t playing to our potential out there. The Kerry dressing room at half-time would have been a very interesting place to be. Not just the All Ireland title itself, number 38, also because of the manner in which it was achieved. We didn’t think it would take eight years maybe to go the distance with that group. I thought in general play we were doing okay. Helping them reach their ultimate potential, that’s the name of the game. I’m very proud, being a Dromid man of how that man has developed this year.” "At the start of the year he wasn’t kicking the ball for love nor money, now he’s one of our best kick passers, right and left.

KERRY supremo Jack O'Connor says 'every man, woman and child' in the county will be celebrating tonight.O'Connor led the Kingdom to their first All-Ir.

"I'm philosophical enough to enjoy it as we go along. It was the third time Kerry boss Jack O'Connor has won the National League and the All-Ireland Championship at the first go after each time he has taken over as Kingdom boss. "I'm delighted for the people of Kerry and I'm delighted for the players and everybody involved."

Two counties locked in mutual appreciation tussle for supremacy again - can Kerry complete the job after downing Dublin or will Galway's insurgent momentum ...

As regards the monster in the corner, Clifford, Joyce has conceded that the best Galway can hope for is to "limit the damage." The idea, derived from the reputation of the combatants, that we'll get a purists' exhibition has been widely dismissed as folksy blather. Galway, on the crest of a wave, can sweep away any opponent. David Moran, at 34, is still a fine footballing midfielder and an elegant foot-passer, albeit prone to the odd error - under little pressure, he committed the turnover from which Dublin worked their goal early in the second half. Jason Foley will be seeking to deny Galway's inside forward terrier Damien Comer the chance to wreak havoc so freely as he did in the semi-final. The Derry game presented a different conundrum but Galway survived a shaky opening quarter to win with surprising comfort in the end. Pat O'Shea's words after the famous 2008 quarter-final in the downpour - "We would always have the greatest respect for Galway. Galway have probably the purest footballers in the country and they have always played great football" - were typical of the genre. "You are not always going to win a game by kicking 2-19 or 2-20, the most pleasing part is the lads did find a way." He still had the nous to earn the last-gasp free from which O'Shea won the game. At the time of his appointment, Joyce was initially perceived as a manager who'd swing them back towards a more open game. As Barry John Keane said to RTÉ Sport during the week, "When I was a young fella, I loved watching Galway. Pádraic Joyce, (Michael) Meehan, phenomenal. Especially in Kerry - they tend to get a bit carried away," O'Connor said.

“Look, the 14 minors were an exceptional team, we thought that was the best team we had. You had the likes of Jason Foley, Tom O'Sullivan, Killian Spillane, ...

I was saying to myself I had to play a game I would not be in ay great shape, I just through he would not have the same energy levels that he could have. We have worked incredibly hard on the mental side of the game this year with Tony Griffin. I just think we needed everything in the end to get over the line because that was a really good Galway display today. We feel that all the work we have done on the mental side of the game with the lads we can dig out a game, we can dog it out. We thought Diarmuid would give them a bit of bother around the middle of the field with his legs. “Paul was playing quite well…he was just a bit unsettled and snatching at stuff. “We felt it was a free (John Daly on Killian Spillane), we felt he leaned in with the shoulder. But I think today was one where we needed a bit of a jolt. We conceded two in the league. particularly in the first half I thought we were very jiggy and not composed on the ball. There was a tricky wind going in there and he did not have much to aim at and he stuck it over so hats off to him. “We knew that a new group had to be developed and whatever. “Look, the ’14 minors were an exceptional team, we thought that was the best team we had.

After guiding Kerry to the fourth All-Ireland title of his now storied management career, Jack O'Connor described their hard-fought final victory over ...

"The great team from 04-09 had come to an end here 11 years ago, I suppose Stephen Cluxton put an end to them. I am very proud of the way a fellow Dromid man has developed this year" "But I think today was one where we needed a bit of a jolt. "Dublin came back within two points of us with 25 minutes with the wind behind them and all the momentum. "In general play I thought we were doing OK. We were turning Galway over. "I think we had seven wides kicked before Galway registered a wide.

Kerry manager Jack O'Connor read the riot act at half time in the All-Ireland final after watching his side being outplayed by Galway in the first half of a ...

“We knew that a new group had to be developed and whatever. “We referred to league games when we played, and it looked like we were going to lose, and we just found something in the last ten or fifteen minutes. We feel that all the work we have done on the mental side of the game with the lads we can dig out a game, we can dog it out. “As it turned out that was the way. “In general play I thought we were doing ok. But I think today was one where we needed a bit of a jolt.

Kerry boss Jack O'Connor has revealed the impact of his side claiming the All-Ireland senior football final on Sunday afternoon.

I'm a bit long in the tooth to be feeling pressure." I really enjoyed the year. I really enjoyed this year. I’m a bit long in the tooth now to be feeling pressure. “This means everything to us,” he explained. “Every man woman and child in Kerry is celebrating this evening.

Jack O'Connor admitted he let out 'a couple of yahoos' at half-time in this All-Ireland final having seen his team kick seven wides and trail by a point.

I think there is a lot of belief in the dressing room, a lot of belief in each other. We feel that all the work we have done on the mental side of the game with the lads we can dig out a game, we can dog it out. Maybe the tag of favouritism rested heavily on our fellas’ shoulders, particularly in the first half I thought we were very jiggy and not composed on the ball. I had the same dose myself and it took a good bit out of myself. But I think today was one where we needed a bit of a jolt. And we left a couple of yahoos alright, did we Gavin? One or two yahoos.”