Kerry football giant nearly puts it all down to ÔluckÕ

Date Published: {J}

AFTER just a couple of minutes with former Kerry Gaelic footballer, Darragh Ó Sé, you get a real sense of not only the man, but the legend. For while his inter-county days – during which he won an incredible six All-Ireland medals – may be behind him, the remnants of the burning desire still remains.

It may surprise some that Darragh Ó Sé was not always the first name on the club, never mind the Kerry team-sheet, growing up. In fact, until he hit his late teens, he was just another hopeful looking to make a name for himself in the game.

“There was no question about it, I wasn’t one of the better [underage] players,” admits Ó Sé, who has made the long, arduous trip to Craughwell GAA to present county medals to the rising stars of the fledgling football club. “There were better players underage than me, but, that said, I genuinely really wanted to play for Kerry. I wanted to be better than the rest. And I wanted to play as much for the county as I could.

“Funny thing, though, I never played much at midfield at underage, but I always wanted to play midfield for Kerry! So, I set very high standards; I set the bar right up there,” he laughs. “I didn’t care if I believed it or not. I just wanted it.”

To many, that may seem, as he says himself, “unbelievable”, but in his case, it just underlined his innate ambitious nature. “I was lucky enough because in my last year as a minor, between the age of 17 and 18, I grew a couple of inches, which made a big difference to me. That probably set me up then to play midfield.”

In speaking to Ó Sé – who has just released his autobiography, entitled ‘Darragh’ – the words “lucky”, “fortunate” and “enjoyable” dominate the discussion. Amazingly, for a man who played 16 years in the green and gold of Kerry, won those six All-Ireland medals, nine Munster titles, three National Leagues and four All-Stars, he feels, genuinely, “lucky”, “fortunate” and “privileged”.

Then again, Ó Sé enjoyed the same kind of upbringing as most of his peers – albeit, with the notable exceptional that his uncle, the great Páidí Ó Sé lived next door – and a young Darragh loved nothing more than kicking ball around the back garden with his brothers Fergal, Marc and Tómas.

Inevitably, there were a few broken windows over the years. “Oh windows broke, the whole lot,” exclaims Ó Sé with a broad smile. “Like every other house which had kids of that age I imagine. But it was very enjoyable as well. I have great memories of my youth, growing up like that, playing football and going to games.”

It all laid the foundation for an illustrious career in later years, one that was punctuated by as many highs as lows. There was rarely an in-between. He says, not surprisingly, that his first All-Ireland win in 1997 – a 0-13 to 0-7 victory over Mayo – was “hugely enjoyable”, but adds, “every All-Ireland, in fairness, had its own merits”.

“The All-Ireland win in 2000 (over Galway) would also be very high on my achievement list, because of the fact that we won both the semi-final and final after replays,” continues the former midfielder. “So, we went the hard way about it. 2006 was also very enjoyable. We beat Mayo in the final, but we had a tough route along the way. In 2009, we were on the ropes in a lot of the games there, but then we got to Croke Park and turned it around (with an All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Dublin).”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.