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Tuesday January 10th 2006 Skysports.com
Recently promoted Irish First Division side Kerry have appointed Kevin O'Brien as their new first-team manager. O’Brien who turns thirty on July the third had previously been appointed as under 18 and under 21 team managers at Athlone Town and more recently last season he played an important role as Aaron Jacob’s assistant manager at Cork City under 21s. O’Brien’s first competitive game in charge will be at home to former club Athlone Town and he is yet to take the much awaited plunge into the transfer market.
Tuesday January 10th 2006 Irish Daily Mail Eircom League focus
Kerry manager Kevin O'Brien will be under severe pressure by fans and members of the board alike to begin to build a team which has failed to win major honours in their short history. Created in 2001 Kerry played in the Munster Senior League but failed to place higher than fifth in four years. Last season, 2005, Kerry finished second in the division and after an AGM they decided to apply for a place in next season’s eircom First Division. Local businessman Paul Andrews declared his interest in purchasing shares in the club after they won promotion to the second tier of Irish football. He was reported to be worth in the region of 15m after making his fortune in a wide range of businesses and after a failed bid for Champions Cork City he decided to build from scratch with Kerry. The Cork native, who now resides in Tralee, made a formal bid for Kerry at the end of last year for 100% of the shares of the club and it was accepted on the spot on condition he would provide sufficient funding to the club who are now planning to become semi-professional for the start of the eircom first division which begins in March.
Tuesday January 24th 2006
I closed over the paper and sat back onto my new leather sofa. My views glazed over my new 32” TV and my thoughts drifted back to the day my life changed forever.
The morning had begun as usual, during the close season I continued my job as a teacher in University College Cork. Being a PE teacher it gave me a fairly relaxed day, I also was involved heavily in the College’s soccer teams. That day we were due to play away to UCD (University College Dublin) in the semi-final stage of the All Ireland Colleges Tournament. We had quiet a strong side with a number of our players playing youths with Cork City. On the train over to the match the lads were their usual boisterous selves, Dean Howard; our captain was slagging off Sean Smith about his penalty miss in the Quarter-Finals. The game was tied at 1-1 and Smith stepped up to slot home the winner. The Galway City College keeper got a fingertip to the ball to touch it onto the crossbar but five minutes into injury time Howard curled in a freekick to send us into the semi-final stage for the third year running. Last year we were beaten by UCD on penalties, the cruellest of defeats as we led 2-0 ten minutes into the second-half. Incidentally Smith was at fault for their last minute equaliser, he tripped the UCD striker in the box when our keeper could have gathered had he done nothing and twenty-minutes later they were celebrating with the cup. Smith’s father is a lecturer at our College and he put a lot of pressure on me to play him since his arrival in first-year.
As the train neared Houston Station I awoke to the sound of my boring Nokia ringtone, I had to leave the carriage because the lads were practising celebrations for when they scored. Dean Sotherall’s attempt of the Robot caused an uproar of laughter which had drowned out as soon as I had closed the door behind me.
“Hello”
“Kevin?”
“Yes”
“Paul Andrews here, the new owner of County Kerry football club”
“Oh, Paul, hi” My heart sank, he was worth 10 million according to the Irish Star and he looked set to turn Kerry into a major footballing side. With my lack of experience he probably would over look me for the top job in which I was interested in since Michael Cole’s departure last term.
“Look I’ll make this quick, as you know I’m going to invest heavily in Kerry and there is a lot of pressure on whoever takes charge”
“Yeah”
The train slowed down and halted to the sound of the heavy rain, what else could you expect in Ireland.
“Well when I was reviewing my staff list I was advised by a number of people that you would be ready to step up and take charge of the club”
“Really?, oh god, brilliant”
“Yeah could you meet my next Thursday at 2:00pm to discuss your contract, that is if you’ll accept?”
“Great thanks Paul I’d definitely be interested in taking charge but I won’t be able to meet you on Thursday ‘cos I’m a teacher in UCC. How about Saturday?”
“Of course John mentioned that, yes Saturday is fine, we’ll say 1:00pm for lunch, in the Grand Hotel?”
“Ok thanks Paul, talk then”
My mind was preoccupied for the rest of the day, did I really have that phonecall?
From the time I spoke with Paul I could think of little else, in my team-talk before the game I challenged the lads to step up a gear and make themselves counted, after all they could end up considering a contract with Kerry next year. Two goals either side of half-time condemned us to a disappointing defeat and Sean Smith’s sending off in the second minute dealt our chances of winning a big blow. The train home was subdued, for some players I wondered were they more disappointed that they didn’t get a chance to celebrate a goal with the Robot. The heavens opened when we departed from the train in Cork and on my short journey through the dark lonely streets of Moorhill Avenue I danced in and out of the puddles which I had become familiar to in my time returning from away matches. I unlocked the door of my two bedroom flat to the sound of the Match of the Day soundtrack. My cousin Joe was my room-mate as we struggled to scrape enough money together. I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t believe me about the conversation I had with the new Kerry owner. Our modest compartment consisted of five rooms. In the sitting room the walls mirrored that of a ten year old football fan. Posters of Roy Keane and Man Utd stars covered half the walls while on the wall opposite to it the likes of Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen stood proudly in front of the famous kop end. Joe was a Liverpool addict, he too trained sports teams in UCC and we often fell out about stupid arguments like who had the better midfield or who deserved to win the games between the sides. Joe was a talented manager he even turned down a job with Cork Youths last season to stay on in his capacity as the girls soccer coach in UCC. As I lay in my single bed in our shared room my heart skipped a beat when I thought of that article in the Daily Mail. ‘Andrews is reportedly worth in the region of 15m euros and we understand that he will invest a major amount into Kerry as he looks to bring success to his newly acquired club’.
The Kingdom, power and the glory 
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