Kerry under-20 manager Tomás Ó Sé says one of his players is being “tapped up” by an AFL club whose scouts are monitoring the teenager’s progress by watching Gaelic football matches online.
Ó Sé, who is now in his third season as Kerry under-20 manager, feels a sense of frustration and powerlessness on the topic as there are no regulations in place to which Aussie Rules clubs must adhere to when approaching rising GAA prospects.
Kerry have lost several players to Aussie Rules in recent years, including Mark O’Connor, Cillian Burke and Rob Monahan.
“I think it’s wrong what’s going on, I think there’s players being tapped up,” said Ó Sé at the launch of the Dalata All-Ireland under-20 football championship.
“I know for a fact that there’s an under-20 player in Kerry being rang by coaches from an Australian club telling him how he did in matches after watching him on Clubber.
“I don’t know what the rules are, but if it was soccer or rugby I don’t think they’d be allowed to do that when a fella is doing his Leaving Cert. Don’t get me wrong, fellas think I’m completely against [players] going out, but if the offer is there I’d always wish him all the best and hope they are a success out there.
“But as a Kerry man, I hate the way it’s done, I just hate the way there’s 15 years going into a young fella and it’s just, ‘Oh yeah we’ll have that fella there and we’ll shoot off’. And it kind of annoys me that the want isn’t there to play for Kerry more than anything else, if that makes sense.
“It makes sense to me, like, I’d rather nothing but to play for Kerry and win All-Irelands for Kerry. There’s a good team there, there’s an opportunity to win All-Irelands.”
Speaking at Kerry GAA’s convention in December, county chairman Patrick O’Sullivan raised the matter, saying clubs and counties should receive some form of compensation from AFL outfits signing their players.
However, Ó Sé sees difficulties in making that a reality.
“I don’t see how it can work. I’ve never even asked could it be brought in but I don’t think it can because of the fact that we’re an amateur organisation. I know [of a Tyrone player] who was asked to go, but he wanted to stay home playing football and that was his decision, it wasn’t anything that was offered to him, he wanted to stay home.
“And for whatever reason our lads want to shoot off and that’s just the way it is. It’s just frustration and I’m more frustrated that our lads don’t want to stay at home. Look, I wish the lads well and all that, but it’s a huge loss to Kerry football no matter what way you look at it – Cillian Burke [Geelong] has gone, Rob Monahan [Carlton] has gone, Mark O’Connor [Geelong] has gone.
“But I’ve kind of my peace made with it, we’re an amateur organisation, there’s no way you can bring money into that, there’s no way you can bring compensation in, there’s no way you can bring structure because we’re an amateur organisation. We’re prime pickings, sure why wouldn’t the Aussie Rules do it?”
Still, Ó Sé hopes Kerry can this year do what no team from the county has managed since 2008 and win an All-Ireland under-20/21 title.
In 2024 he managed the Kingdom to a first All-Ireland final appearance at the grade in 16 years but they came up short in that decider to Tyrone. The 2025 provincial under-20 competitions will begin in March.
There is a feeling this season could be Jack O’Connor’s last as Kerry senior manager but Ó Sé says it is not a position he is eyeing up.
“No, right now I wouldn’t. I would never say never but it’s not on my radar,” stated the five-time Sam Maguire winner, who is a school principal in Fermoy, Cork.
“I’m flat to the mat, it’s busy, you have home life, you have work and you have football. I think there’s so much pressure with it [senior intercounty management], you’d have to be a certain type of individual to take it on and to be mad enough to take it on at times. To be fair, the under-20 isn’t too bad, the spotlight isn’t on under-20 at all.”
He has been watching the Kerry senior team’s opening three games of the National League with interest – home defeats to Donegal and Dublin, either side of an away win over Derry.
“I think Kerry, once they have a full squad, they’ll get motoring better,” he said.
“They’ve had a sluggish start, I suppose, they’re not happy with it but a lot of it isn’t under their control at the moment with injuries and fellas coming back late and fellas not available. It’s very early and I wouldn’t be getting too flustered about it yet.”
– Ó Sé was speaking at the announcement of Dalata Hotel Group’s five-year sponsorship of the GAA Under-20 football championship. Dalata comprises 55 hotels operating through its two main brands, Clayton and Maldron.
