Kerry’s Sean O’Connell: ‘It’s been great to be playing in front of big crowds every week’

None

Credit: Adam Kowalczyk/Kerry FC

Sean O’Connell has a big day ahead of him on Friday – and it is not just on the pitch.

The Kerry youngster is set to line out for the Kingdom against Treaty United at 7.45pm at the Market’s Field in a big Munster Derby clash.

But before he can think of that he will receive his Leaving Cert results that morning.

And while he is unsure of the next step in regards to his education journey, he will be hoping to figure out what his long-term plans are in the days and weeks ahead.

“I’m not fully sure of what I am going to do right now,” he revealed when speaking about his off-field dilemmas.

“If I was to go away it might be hard to come back to Kerry and train but I’ll have to see what happens with my results and stuff like that.”

A student of Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí in Tralee, O’Connell has also been a student of the League of Ireland game this season at Mounthawk Park.

Like many of his teammates, the full-back has been playing in just his season of senior football and he has relished the challenge put before him.

And having come through the first few months of the season, Kerry have improved in recent weeks – with O’Connell one of the many who has caught the eye, making 20 league appearances thus far.

“There has been an improvement since the mid-season break,” he explained. “A lot of the games that we were losing, like the heavy defeat against Galway away from home, are now just losses by one goal.



“Obviously we are sick of hearing that because we want to start winning games. We want to kick on and get a few wins on the board. We are disappointed to drop five points against Wexford and Cobh but hopefully we can pick up a few more wins.”

O’Connell made his League of Ireland bow in February having never played a minute of senior football before but he has come on a lot since then.

“I’ve definitely noticed a huge improvement in terms of physicality and the mental side of the game,” he reflected. “At the start of the season we were obviously looking to win but we weren’t close in these types of games.

“Now that we are getting better as a team, there is no reason why we can’t kick on and get a few more wins.  I knew that it was going to be a physical league.

“Up until the break I think I was struggling with it a bit but I think I am getting a bit more of an understanding of it now.”

But the reality is that O’Connell was juggling the demands of senior League of Ireland football with his Leaving Cert exams.



And often, the full-back was going straight from school to training – and then matches on the weekend – while playing against a host of full-time professional outfits in the First Division.

“It was a bit mad,” O’Connell adds. “There were a few of us doing the Leaving Cert earlier this season and we were coming straight from school into training while trying to study.

“Even on the bus to games I remember studying for my oral exams and we were all trying to learn some stuff. We were coming up against full-time teams so we were trying to balance things.”

But the process of finding a balance between football and off-field matters is one that he has enjoyed, especially when playing in front of big crowds against Galway United and Waterford at the top-end of the second-tier.

“It’s been great to be playing in front of big crowds every week especially against teams like Galway United and Waterford,” he revealed. “Their crowds really get behind them as well and you can see how much that means to them.

“I remember going up to Galway on the first night – and obviously it wasn’t great for us – and you could notice how passionate they were throughout the whole game. It is great to see.”

About Andrew Dempsey

View Full Profile