AFTER knocking the All-Ireland champions out of the Sam Maguire race, Jack O’Connor unloaded on the critics who have been knocking his Kerry side.
There were shades of the 2009 trouncing of Pat Gilroy’s Dublin as O’Connor’s crew were untouchable during a sensational second-half spell that saw them hit Armagh for 0-14 without reply.
And O’Connor vented: “What’s to be gained by slating people? It’s the easiest thing in the world. I’m in the business of building people, not knocking people.
“I’d ask people who are knocking that group and knocking people involved with the group to look in the mirror and say, ‘What have you contributed?’
“It’s very easy to knock people. Go away and coach a team. Go away and coach a development squad. Go away and coach a minor team. That’s how you help Kerry football, not knocking people.”
A group-stage defeat to Meath raised major doubts over the All-Ireland aspirations of the Munster champions.
The nine-point loss caused Darragh Ó Sé to claim that ‘the mood isn’t great’ in the county as the former Kerry midfielder tipped Armagh to bring an end to their season.
O’Connor said: “We think we have a lot of good footballers but sometimes we’re being judged on different criteria to other teams.
“For example, Dublin got beaten by Meath in the Leinster Championship and I didn’t see any ex-Dublin players coming out slating the team or slating the management like we had down south in our county.
“There’s a sense of commitment to the team and a sense of loyalty to the team. Unfortunately a few pundits down our way let themselves down in that regard.”
The Kerry cohort in the 70,530 attendance revelled in seeing their team turn a five-point deficit into a nine-point lead during a blistering 15-minute spell.
O’Connor beamed: “A big performance and a big Kerry support came up and backed the team, which is great. We love seeing that because a lot of people had us written off during the week.
“But obviously the supporters felt there was another kick in the team. They’ve seen it happen before.
“They saw it happen in 2006, they saw it happen in 2009. Kerry is a proud county and we weren’t going to fizzle out of the Championship without a hell of a fight.”
O’Connor admitted parallels could be drawn with the same stage of the campaign 16 years ago that concluded with him leading Kerry to an All-Ireland SFC title for the third time.
Expectations were low ahead of a quarter-final against Dublin after Kerry limped past Sligo and Antrim in the qualifiers, having been well beaten by Cork in a Munster semi-final.
But Dubs boss Gilroy famously branded his team ‘startled earwigs’ after they suffered a 17-point hammering.
‘FEROCIOUS DETERMINATION’
O’Connor said: “There was ferocious determination in the camp that we weren’t going to let the season fizzle out after the Meath game.
“It may have been difficult for Armagh not to listen to the outside noise where we were being written off and they were being written up.”
Meanwhile, Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney admitted ‘it’s hard to know’ what the future holds after he was asked about the prospect of staying on for a 12th season.
He said: “It’s all about the players first and foremost – what they want and how much they want to push on. My appetite for football has always been the same. I love it. I enjoy it, despite the abuse.
“It’s just one of those things. I don’t know. Maybe it’s an addiction. I haven’t even thought about that.”
