O'Connor a crucial part of the Kingdom machine

His brother, James, was a bright prospect in rugby before a pair of cruciate injuries effectively put paid to his ambitions.

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Joe was making inroads, however, winning an interprovincial title with Munster's Under-18s, though Austin Stacks minor manager Wayne Quillinan was gently keeping communication lines open.

"He had not played football for a couple of years and I just made contact with Joe just to let him know, 'Listen, we'd love to have you back, but we know you have an interest in rugby'," Quillinan explains.

"So those conversations kind of continued for a while and then he came back playing."

Quillinan's brief, as far as he was concerned, was to develop players and people that could come through and contribute to the club at adult level more than stockpiling underage honours.

As it was, he managed to achieve both, but there was a moment where he realised that O'Connor was had Kerry potential.

"I remember we played Na Gaeil, I think it was a county semifinal or something like that, and we were being beaten by five or six points and Joe was just coming back, so we hadn't started him.