David Clifford hopeful Jack O'Connor will continue as Kerry manager in 2026

Kerry star David Clifford is hopeful Jack O'Connor will continue as manager in 2026 after guiding them to the All-Ireland.

Following their All-Ireland final win over Donegal, O'Connor, who is in his third spell in charge, hinted his time in charge could be coming to an end.

Having won several All-Ireland's, O'Connor is yet to win back-to-back titles, and Clifford hopes he will be around next season to get his hands on Sam Maguire once again.

"It would be great if we could keep it the same way it was for last year.

"I thought we had a brilliant set-up so hopefully they’ll figure things out.".

A year in which questions were raised about Kerry, the Kingdom were the deserved winners after a convincing win over Donegal in July, which followed wins over fellow Ulster sides Cavan, Armagh, and Tyrone.

After their final group stage game, which was a shock defeat to Meath, pundits and former players had their doubts over Kerry.

However, those questions were answered following an emphatic second half win performance over Armagh, which Clifford says was important after the dfeeat to Meath

"It was pointless having the Armagh performance if we didn't back it up. That was a big motivation for us.

"The Armagh performance was great, but we had to back it up in the next two games. The way the season was structured, it nearly felt like we didn't deserve to have a second chance.

"We had the home game against Cavan, so it wasn't the end of the world in that sense. The fact it was week on week, we didn't have much time to reflect. We had a game the following week, so you couldn't feel sorry for yourself.

"We were bad against Meath, if we produced another performance like that we wouldn't have been winning. We were miles off it in terms of