Jack's army pays tribute to O'Connor's influence

Kerry players have been paying tribute to four-time All-Ireland winning manager Jack O'Connor who repeated his year one trick to end the county’s eight-year wait for Sam Maguire.

O’Connor has led the Kingdom to the ultimate honour in his first season in charge on three separate occasions – 2003, 2006 and 2014. His team also prevailed in 2009, with all four successes coming a season after Tyrone – his old adversaries – had scaled the mountain.

The latest Kerry triumph came against Galway on Sunday as Kerry put an off-colour first-half display behind them to find their shooting boots and triumph 0-20 to 0-16.

"I thought he’d mellowed until half-time," midfielder David Moran joked on The Sunday Game afterwards.

"Jack did a fantastic job, his football IQ is second to none.

"We’ve had a really good year not just in terms of the results, but we’ve really enjoyed training. It’s tough, we probably trained as hard as other years but this year was really enjoyable. Even for the old fellas having to do the runs."

The 34-year-old now has three All-Ireland titles to his name, and he felt that O’Connor’s style of play helped him personally this season.

"It’s a kicking game. It suits guys who are looking up, a lot of the Kerry philosophy is to look up and kick. It isn’t just me, there are loads of other guys in the room here who are looking up and kicking in.

'I thought he had mellowed until half-time...' David Moran chats to @Joanne_Cantwell about Jack O'Connor and his own return to fitness at the @Kerry_Official banquet#rtegaa