Kerry’s Diarmuid O’Connor ready to strike up midfield partnership with namesake Joe

Austin Stacks man Joe O’Connor has come back from a cruciate ligament injury he suffered in the county championship in September 2022, and which kept him out of all football for the entirety of 2023 as he targeted his comeback at the start of this year.

As fate would have it, O’Connor’s return coincided with Jack Barry’s departure from the squad, as the Na Gaeil man opted out of the Kerry panel to go travelling abroad.

Now it seems likely that Barry’s Na Gaeil clubmate, Diarmuid O’Connor, will form a new midfield partnership with Joe O’Connor, who has been showing an encouraging return to his best form with a run of impressive performances in the National League.

A slight concern for manager Jack O’Connor is that Joe O’Connor carried a slight knock into the training camp in Portugal a fortnight ago and did little to no training in the Algarve. While the manager said the Stacks man has resumed training and is therefore “in contention” to face Cork on Saturday, there must be some doubt if the Diarmuid O’Connor/Joe O’Connor axis gets its first Championship run out this weekend as Kerry begin their Munster title defence against the Rebels who travel with a formidable midfield pairing of Ian Maguire and Colm O’Callaghan.

“Joe’s done superbly well this year,” Diarmuid O’Connor said at the launch of the Munster Championship in Cahir a couple of weeks ago. “Joe’s been on the panel since 2020 and he’s been unlucky that he hasn’t got the break before that to try and stake his claim. He’s doing brilliant well, in fairness to him.

“He probably could have got his chance a bit earlier and just to see the work he put in while he was injured and the way he went about things so professionally, it’s no surprise to me how well he’s doing.”

Diarmuid O’Connor credits Jack Barry with playing an important role in his career but he knew his club mate had his mind made up once he mentioned heading abroad.

“Jack had made his decision and it wasn’t for me to try and change his mind. It was something he wanted to do for a while, and him and Laura, his girlfriend, decided that they wanted to do it so fair play to them. I wish them the best.

“He’s a couple of years older than me and he was the first from our club to play for the county. To lean on that experience was hugely beneficial.” Stefan Okunbor is another Na Gaeil option around the middle but he has enjoyed little luck with injuries.

“Stef has been playing great football this year when he gets the chance and hopefully he’ll stay fit this year,” says O’Connor. “He’s been quite unfortunate but he’s a positive guy and he’ll take things in his stride. He’ll always come back a bit stronger.”

Diarmuid O’Connor also praised Footballer of the Year David Clifford for his role in lifting the team around him to a higher level.

“David is brilliant in that not only is he a brilliant scorer in terms of getting his own scores but he’s brilliant in making the boys around him better. He can slip ball, he’s a great kick passer, and he can maybe take two defenders and leave another fella get his shot off so he’s brilliant that way as well.

“He’s come on leaps and bounds since he came into senior and he’ll keep improving no doubt. There are plenty of fellas like that in the panel who have great football brains and you can pick their brains and they can pick our brains as midfielders.

“It’s having that confidence in fellas you can speak to them about certain things going on in games. It’s very valuable to us.”