An emotional Mark O’Connor described the feeling after helping Dingle to their first Kerry senior football championship success in 77 years on Sunday.

The men from the peninsula trailed Austin Stacks by five points in the first-half before delivering a superb second-half display in Tralee to win the final by 2-13 to 1-12, with inspirational skipper Paul Geaney netting their two goals in the closing eight minutes of normal time.

Speaking to Off The Ball afterwards, O’Connor, who won an AFL title with Geelong Cats in 2022, was clearly emotional after the success with his home club.

“It means everything. I kind of broke down. My voice is gone. I broke down,” he stated.

“We’re such a small town. Obviously, it’s been the same faces that have been in the crowd ever since I was under 10s… So giving a look up to the crowd before the game probably didn’t help me at all.

“Seeing my family in the stands… It’s the parents of the lads that were playing out there today. They raised us all the way through. So trying to keep a lid on that is tough.”

'It's just extra special'

'I'll probably start crying again!'

An emotional Mark O'Connor after coming home from The AFL to claim Kerry SFC glory with @DingleGAA | 🏆🏐

🎙️ @TomasORuanaidh#GAA pic.twitter.com/IKMtYRX5dy

— Off The Ball (@offtheball) October 26, 2025

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