Jack O’Connor made light of Darragh Ó Sé’s criticism after Kerry got back to winning ways against Cavan on Saturday.

The legendary Kingdom midfielder was scathing of O’Connor and his perceived failure to blood new players in the wake of their heavy defeat to Meath the previous weekend, suggesting that his time as Kerry manager was nearing an end.

“That’s the biggest criticism Kerry people have of Jack O’Connor. He hasn’t future-proofed the squad during his time in charge. The Kerry team now is very similar to what it was when he took over at the end of 2021,” Ó Sé wrote in the Irish Times.

“Jack doesn’t like losing and he knows well that a chunk of Kerry supporters will think the sky is falling in if they get relegated from Division 1.

“But every one of the other All-Ireland contenders has spent a bit of time in Division 2. They blooded players along the way and now they’re in much better shape.”

Reacting to the Ó Sé article, O’Connor said: “He’d be better off doing a bit of coaching himself…

“There’s a lot of pressure on Kerry players from the supporters and it’s just hard for players.

“I mean that was a difficult environment for the lads to play football today because after the performance last week there was huge pressure on them to perform.

“That can be a difficult environment so oftentimes then it’s easier to go to Croke Park you know away from home and actually express yourself and play without fear and play with a bit of abandon.”

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