After a couple of weeks of the ‘will he/won’t he’ conundrum, Jack O’ Connor finally decided last Monday week to step back into the role of Kerry manager, which he vacated in the aftermath of the 2006 All-Ireland triumph over Mayo.

This was largely expected, with the only two other viable candidates, Mick O’Dwyer and Sean Geaney, both having declared their reluctance to be considered for the position. The link with Micko was always a pipedream, though I’m sure the current squad would have been more than happy to work with the present Wicklow manager. Geaney was viewed as being a strong prospect for the job a few weeks back, having help to guide the Kerry Under-21s to All-Ireland glory this year. He also pulled out, although had he been appointed there would be probably be concerns that it would much the same as last year, given that he operated as a selector under Pat O’ Shea.

With those two gone, there was a major onus on O’Connor agreeing to come back, and this was exactly what he did. Even though this is his second term in charge, the circumstances by which he is appointed now could not be any different than when he was first ratified back in the winter of 2003. Back then, there was much skepticism over his appointment due to the fact that he had never represented Kerry at senior level as a player. Many people questioned putting him in the role, most notably Pat Spillane who felt that he was ‘the wrong man for the job’. He didn’t have a great start in the job as they were beaten by Longford in his first league match. Already people were writing his obituary. He proved the doubters wrong however, and restored the pride which had been seriously dented by defeats in the three previous years at the hands of Meath, Armagh and Tyrone. 2 All-Irelands, 2 Leagues and 2 Munster titles meant that O’ Connor left the post in 2006 with his head held high.

Five years on, and the table have turned, with Spillane stating in his Sunday World column a couple of weeks back that O’Connor was the man for the job. There isn’t much doubt that he is the man for the job, but he still has a few things that he has to sort out once his odyssey with Kerins O’ Rahilly comes to its inevitable conclusion.

Top of his agenda will undoubtedly revolve around the sporting futures of Tommy Walsh and David Moran. These two individuals, who were introduced to Kerry under Pat O’ Shea but have O’ Connor as their current club manager, are due to have trials with AFL club St. Kilda’s around December with both seen as being tailor made for the game which has previously taken Sean Wight and Tadhg Kennelly from the county. He may have a job convincing them to stay given the rewards that come with playing Aussie Rules, but it is something he will have to do as both men are seen as vital to the future of Kerry football.

Both are the sons of former Kerry greats, Sean Walsh and Denis ‘Ogie’ Moran, and will no doubt have many people whispering in their ear what exactly it means to play for the Kingdom.

Whether they go or not, the situation will have come to a resolution before the start of the League by which time O’Connor will have had more time to address the other problems that he faces. Most notably, he will need to tackle the indiscipline which seems to have crept into Kerry’s play in the last year or so. There have been a number of high-profile incidents involving Paul Galvin, Aidan O’Mahony and Darragh O’Se over the past year, which people inside and outside the county would rather not associate Kerry with.

In the All-Ireland Final in particular, they seemed to lose their discipline somewhat, which resulted in a number of yellow cards being dished out. O’Connor is a strong-willed character, and will make certain that the Kerry players don’t allow their temperament to spiral out of control when the pressure comes on. This will be a huge season for Paul Galvin following on from what happened last year, although the presence of his club-mate Eamon Fitzmaurice as selector will probably help in ensuring that his return to the starting line-up passes without too much incident.

There are also a number of positions on the Kerry team, which will need to be sorted out over the coming months. Full-back has been a problem position for Kerry over the past couple of years, with Tom O’Sullivan, Marc O’Se and Tommy Griffin being used to varying effect under Pat O’Shea. What Jack O’Connor needs to do, is decide who he wants to go with in this position and stick with him. My choice would be, despite his advancing years, to go with Griffin, but there would also be the long shot of tempting Mike McCarthy out of retirement. He will be 31 next year, which is a year younger that Tyrone’s Colin Holmes, and he could still do a job for Kerry even though he would be at a disadvantage after being out of inter-county football for two years.

Midfield is also an important sector for Kerry going forward. Darragh O’Se will be entering into his 34th year when the season resumes and, if he chooses to carry on, he may not be able to last the pace for the full 70 minutes. For this reason, Kerry need to look at their options in the middle, and this is where the Walsh and Moran scenario becomes all the more delicate. Seamus Scanlon was the regular partner for O’Se last year, and the previous season, during which he put in some impressive displays earning himself an All-Star nomination in the process. However, he was inconsistent at the best of times and found himself substituted in three of the championship matches this year.

Michael Quirke, yet another Kerins O’ Rahilly player, is another option although his perceived lack of mobility may count against him. Then we come to the aforementioned David Moran, who is ideal for the engine room of Kerry as he stands at 6” 5’ and has no shortage of composure on the ball. If he stayed in Ireland, and ignored the overtures Down Under, he would be a huge asset to Kerry. Ditto Tommy Walsh, who Kerry could move to No. 14, which would free up Kieran Donaghy to make a move further out the pitch. With Walsh’s younger brother, Barry John, waiting in the wings, the Kingdom attack would still possess plenty of options.

Another couple of minor alterations may take place, but Kerry still have an extremely talented squad of players, and if they get a run going they will be very hard to stop, no matter what personnel they have out on the pitch.

While this appointment has been met with universal approval from those across the county, it still represents something of a risk by O’Connor. While some will feel it is a risk because of what he wrote about the players in his book ‘Keys To The Kingdom’, I feel that won’t be that much of an issue as he will make sure that any grievances on that subject will be sorted out straight away.

The reason it is risk is because there are lots of cases where a manager isn’t able to achieve the same level of success the second time around. A prime example would be Babs Keating when he went back to Tipperary, or if you look at soccer and the second spells of Howard Kendall and Kevin Keegan at Everton and Newcastle United respectively.

This was a point that Spillane also made, though he did make the error of saying that Cyril Farrell wasn’t as successful in his second spell in charge of the Galway hurlers. It is sometimes forgotten that Farrell departed the Galway job for two years (to be replaced by Frank Corcoran) before resuming in 1984 to win 2 All-Irelands and take part in another 3. In his third term, during 1997 and 1998, he was unsuccessful, which was what Spillane was alluding to.

Yet, for every tale of a manager being unsuccessful in their second spell in the job, there is the tale of someone who was a success. For instance, Brian McEniff has had numerous spells in charge of Donegal and has achieved a degree of success each time. John Maughan brought Mayo to an All-Ireland Final appearance during his second spell with t