And then there was one. It may not be the end of the Ó Sé dynasty, but after 12 seasons soldiering with one or both of his older brothers Marc Ó Sé is now the last taste of the generation.
A few weeks short of his 34th birthday – not that he needed reminding of that – Ó Sé returned to training with the Kerry football team last night, after taking an extended winter break: conscious, if not already convinced, that this could be his last season. Ó Sé is “bursting for road now”, which for Kerry can only be a good thing.
Having seen Kerry lose their opening two league games – to Dublin and Derry – Ó Sé expects to be back on the field of play for round three, against Mayo, on March 2nd.
In the meantime he admits the break did him no harm – the four-time All-Ireland winner and 2007 Footballer of the Year able to count on one hand the number of league games he'd missed since first joining the Kerry panel, in 2002.
'Extended break'
"Éamonn Fitzmaurice gave me an extended break, though I was doing a bit on my own, but you'd miss it," he says. "Éamonn wanted to look at other players, and it's probably a good thing I got the break. I'm bursting for road now, really looking forward to going back in, and giving it a go. We'll see where it takes us.
“I watched the first two league games, thought the performance against Dublin was encouraging. Okay, the results aren’t going our way, but this time last year there were people pressing panic buttons down in Kerry.
“We lost four league games yet we got to Dublin, and we pushed them to the pin of their collar, in the All-Ireland semi-final. So we’re not panicking. I don’t think making the knock-out stages is a priority. The priority is finding players and making sure that you have a stronger panel.”
Indeed Ó Sé is conscious too that the next generation is coming on fast.
The sudden death, late in 2012, of his uncle Páidí Ó Sé is still difficult to fathom, although the legacy lives on – including the staging later this month of the Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé tournament, now 25 years going and set to attract 40 adult teams to the Dingle Peninsula.
It was also announced at last night’s tournament launch that a life-size bronze statue of the former Kerry All-Ireland winner and manager will be unveiled outside his home, at Ard A Bhóthair in Ventry, in May 2015, on what would have been his 60th birthday.
Ó Sé’s son, Pádraig Óg, is rising up fast through the Kerry ranks and expected to make an impression at under-21 level this year: that, and the arrival of several new faces over last summer, has Marc Ó Sé understandably optimistic about the future of Kerry football – despite the retirement of brother Tomás at the end of last season, following Darragh’s retirement at the start of 2011.
Then, earlier this month, came the news that Paul Galvin was suddenly gone too.
Leadership qualities
"Paul is similar enough to Tomás, in the sense that he was all or nothing. Paul is a real honest guy, the type of fella that if he felt he wasn't able to continue the way he was then he wasn't going to do it.
“He was great in the dressingroom, especially for the younger lads because he would never ask a younger fella to do something he wouldn’t do himself. From that point of view he will be a loss.
“Then you’ve guys like Peter Crowley who are very young and have shown massive leadership qualities already.
“For me, and I know it’s a cliché, but I’ll be happy if I’m playing anywhere. Obviously I’ve taken fierce pride playing in the full-back line since 2002. I think the art of defending in certainly in the full-back line.
“In the half-back line, it is that bit more difficult to defend one-on-one. That’s not saying if I was pushed out into another position, like the half-back line, I wouldn’t be happy. I’d also welcome that challenge.”
For more information on the PhoneWatch Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé 2014 see www.paidiose.com.
