It took a few turns and got a bit stormy at times but in the heel of the hunt, the Kerry County Board unanimously ratified Jack O’Connor as the new Kerry manager on Monday night, handing him a two-year term to take over from outgoing manager Peter Keane. O’Connor’s selectors will be Diarmuid Murphy and Michéal Quirke and the rest of his backroom team is still under construction.
County board chairman Tim Murphy spent much of the hour defending the process through which O’Connor was chosen and rejecting suggestions that Keane had been badly treated. He was particularly exercised by the idea, put forward by various club delegates, that O’Connor had in some way been promised the job ahead of the process taking place.
“The final decision on this was made last Friday week morning, September 26th,” Murphy said. “The suggestion that it was a done deal going back three weeks before or four weeks before or whatever is totally erroneous, totally untrue, totally unfounded. It has been put out there in the media by individuals for what reason I have no idea.
“Individuals who want to undermine us as a selection committee, who want to undermine us as a county committee and who want to undermine us as an executive. And I find it very disheartening, very disconcerting that people would actually believe that five people with the integrity and character of the people on that selection committee would in any way sully the reputation of Kerry in any way, shape, form or fashion.
“I think it’s disgraceful and I think it’s the lowest of the low. We’ve heard it today and in recent days and it’s so, so disrespectful for anyone who is on our selection committee.”
Murphy was moved to defend the process after a number of contributions from club delegates criticising the way Keane’s time as Kerry manager had come to an end. A Laune Rangers statement summed up the flavour of the disquiet: “We want to express our extreme dissatisfaction around the handling of the appointment of the Kerry senior football management team. We believe the process of appointing the incoming management team has been completely mishandled and falls well short of what can be expected from the normally well-respected Kerry GAA.
“As well as the shortcomings around the appointment process, we are also very disappointed with the respect shown to clubs. Both the national and local media published information on the process well before clubs were informed and updated. This lack of respect shown to clubs is simply not acceptable.”
In response, Murphy put up a staunch and impressive defence of how everything shook out. Far from being disrespected, Keane was involved and consulted every step of the way. “I personally phoned Peter and told him we were entering into a competitive process to establish who the next Kerry manager will be. ‘It may be you or it may not - are you happy with that?’ And he indicated that he was.
“What he said was he didn’t want it dragging on. He wanted it dealt with expeditiously, which we assured him we would. Peter made a fantastic presentation to us, which was considered and following that meeting, I phoned Peter again in advance of issuing any public statements to tell him we would be opening up the process. I actually called out the statement to him not once but twice. I asked him specifically on the phone was he comfortable and happy with us proceeding on that basis and he indicated that he was.
“From there, the process developed. We met the two other interested groups over the following fortnight. I totally reject that we were disrespectful to Peter Keane, I totally reject that. It’s being very unfair on me as a county chairman, on the five-man selection committee and on the county executive. We did everything humanly possible in the circumstances we found ourselves in to respect Peter and to give him every opportunity.”
All cavils and complaints dealt with, Murphy put O’Connor’s appointment to the floor for ratification and got unanimous approval. It was then - and only then, he said - that he was able to take the opportunity to thank Keane for his years of service to Kerry football. An expression of thanks had been notable by its absence from the process all the way along. But now that it was officially over, the county chairman felt he could do the needful. It was a lengthy statement but an excerpt should give the necessary flavour.
“We wish to thank and salute you for the incredible service you have given Kerry, the many personal sacrifices you have made along the way and the incredible resilience you have shown over the past two years in particular in what was a very challenging Covid-19 environment.”
