Heart of the Kingdom beats dignified retreat after 16 well-storied seasons

IN TYPICAL Darragh Ó Sé fashion, the end came quietly and without fuss.

The most successful footballer of this generation, and in possession of the most championship appearances, finally announced his retirement from the intercounty scene just shy of his 35th birthday.

All told, 16 seasons in the green and gold of his beloved Kerry yielded 81 championship outings, and 1-31 from midfield alongside 12 partners, finishing in the triumphant dismissal of his favourite opponents, Cork, in last September’s All-Ireland final, his ninth such day out.

The Rebels found ways to incite Ó Sé in recent times, but were never able to better his colossal presence.

They will not be sad to see him go.

So many others will, though.

Six All-Ireland medals sees him fall just two short of Uncle Páidí, but considering the enhanced pitfalls in the modern game such a haul may never be rivalled.

There were two All-Ireland medals thrown in for good measure at under-21, in 1995 and 1996, with his first meeting with Sam Maguire coming a year later with his uncle at the managerial helm.

This announcement was predicted every winter since 2007, but finally came in an interview with former team-mate and fellow An Ghaeltacht man Dara Ó Cinnéide on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta yesterday.

“I made the decision after giving it a lot of thought since Christmas and I met with Jack (O’Connor) about a fortnight ago and it was his opinion that if I was coming back, I’d be coming back this week because there was three weeks of training to be done . . . I took the last fortnight, I was thinking about it and based on the family, and work and I think my body as well, the best decision at this time was to take a break from it to give others a chance.”

The eldest of three All Star brothers, with Tomás and Marc, Ó Sé was widely seen as the greatest midfielder to grace the Gaelic football field in recent times.

The historians of the game will only enhance his reputation by listing him alongside Kerry midfield monuments such as Paddy Kennedy (five All-Ireland medals from 1937 to ’47), Mick O’Connell (four from 1959 to ’72) and Jack O’Shea (seven from 1978 to ’91).

So many iconic images of late 20th and early 21st century football will have Ó Sé at their core – lording it over Cork’s finest, Nicholas Murphy, in more than one All-Ireland final; collisions with Dublin’s Ciarán Whelan or Armagh’s Paul McGrane; being hounded by a pack of wild Tyrone men in the 2003 All-Ireland semi-final; gathering possession beneath his own crossbar, on more than one occasion, as the opposition vainly attempted to squeeze the life out of the Kingdom.

There have been lows and of his 21 championship opponents only Tyrone escaped undefeated. In the 2008 All-Ireland semi-final he was dismissed early in the second half for striking Pearse O’Neill (for the second time that summer).

Respect of the mythical piseógs served him well, however, as an unbelievable late 2-2 from Cork ensured a replay, allowing Ó Sé to miss that game, instead of the All-Ireland final, which Tyrone won.

It felt like the defining match of the decade only for Kerry, and eventually Darragh, to rise again.

In 2009, he returned late to rage against the dying of the light and as Kerry found their inevitable rhythm entering August, he grew from fringe player to central cog, assisting defeat of a startled Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final before his simple, but vital efficiency against Meath and then, of course, the final bow against Cork.

“He certainly had a huge steadying influence on us last year at critical periods,” said Jack O’Connor.

“For example, the Dublin game it was his brilliant foot pass into the inside line that led to the goal in the first minute. Outside of the fact that he was a great fielder of the ball, his foot passing and the range of it was something that was really underestimated. It was one of his great strengths.”

Yesterday’s announcement was perfectly stage managed to assist the cute west Kerry cabal. Or was it merely a coincidence that his departure coincided with pictures of Páidí and Mr Tayto cavorting on the Croke Park pitch to promote the annual Comórtas Peile, a Gaelic football tournament on the Dingle Peninsula on February 28th?

Officially launched by An Taoiseach Brian Cowan at Kerry’s traditional Dublin base, the Burlington hotel, Mick O’Dwyer, Christy O’Connor Jr, Eamonn Coghlan and Ronnie Delany arrived to lend their support.

No sign of Darragh though; not that we ever expected him.

Speaking with old friend Ó Cinneide earlier in the day, the interview ended on a delightful note as they discussed a return to club football.

The English translation doesn’t do it justice.

Ó Cinnéide: “So where it started, it will end?”

Ó Sé: “That’s it, that’s it Dara. And, hopefully, it will end well.”

Darragh Ó Sé

Born– April 1, 1975

Debut for Kerry in 1993 NFL versus Donegal. Championship debut versus Limerick, 1994.

Honours

All-Ireland SFC: 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009.

Munster SFC: 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007.

NFL Division One: 1996-97, 2006, 2009.

NFL Division Two: 2002.

Munster Club Senior Football Championship: 2003.

Kerry Senior Football Championship: 2001, 2003.

Kerry County Club Football Championship: 2001, 2002, 2005.

All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship: 1995, 1996.

All Stars: Three.

Darragh Speaking

"There's a lot of dirty petrol coming out."

- After a five-point victory over Galway at Pearse Stadium in the National Football League. April, 2008

Changes from 1993 to 2010?

“I think there’s a lot of emphasis on the papers and the press. There’s a lot of papers now. When I started out in 1993, there were three or four papers there and now there’s about 10. And a lot of coverage done on matches and therefore there’s more pressure on players. I suppose there’s also a lot more emphasis on fitness, when I started you’d have three or four pints and mix with the other team after the match. That’s over now. Maybe it’s a good thing. But maybe a halfway point. Television is the biggest thing, I suppose, in the last few years. The game’s gotten very fast too. Very fast and you have to be fit to play, that’s another thing, I’m not as quick as I used to be.”

“ . . , in Kerry you have the rumour machine. It is crazy. Everyone gets sucked in, like your man in Willy Wonka getting sucked into the machine. Everyone in the county is like that.”

– The Irish Timesinterview, Sept, 2009

“The biggest thing I rued, in all those years, I think, was the club championship with An Ghaeltacht when we didn’t win. We’d a better team in 2001 and we probably should have won that. But I suppose you never enjoy the good things till you lose the other things.”

– Yesterday on radio

“That was the carrot, but at the end of the day, I’m 33 now; I’ll be 34 next year and it’s not easy to keep going. As I say, I have no decision made. Im going to tease it out and see where I am later on in the year. Obviously, I’ll have to make a decision sooner rather than later, but we’ll make that decision too in time.”

– San Francisco All Star tour, Dec, 2008

Paul McGrane, Former Armagh midfielder

"The heartbeat of Kerry for so long. What bigger accolade is there than that? True, Seamus Moynihan had his day but Darragh drove it on. He was the one to win you ball to go do work with it . . .

Jack O'Connor, Two-term Kerry manager

"He is the best midfielder of a generation – for the last 12, 13 years and in many people's mind he is right up there with the all-time Kerry great midfielders . . . so you can't get any more plaudits than that . . .

Seán Boylan, Former Meath manager

"When the history is written of the game there is no doubt he will be included as one of the greats. An extraordinary presence on the field, he had a command of the skills of the game . . .

John O'Mahony, Mayo manager

"Big days sometimes inspire some people and frighten others. It certainly inspired DarraghÓ Sé . . . There were controversial moments here and there but it was all in the cause of Kerry . . .