Newly-crowned Munster club football champions Dingle are resigned to being without Mark O’Connor for their All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Ballyboden St Enda’s early in the New Year.

O’Connor was given permission by his AFL club Geelong to line out for Dingle in the Kerry SFC semi-final and final as well as the Munster semi-final and final, but is due to return to Australia shortly for pre-season training ahead of the start of the 2026 AFL campaign in March.

When asked by reporters if O’Connor would be available for the Ballyboden game after yesterday’s dramatic victory over St Finbarr’s, Dingle manager Padraig Corcoran replied: “I wouldn’t think so, to be honest.

“It is extremely difficult on Mark because he is contracted to play with Geelong and they are all back for pre-season, and I am not so sure how that would work out in terms of getting him back to Ireland.

“If it was a shorter trip and he was able to get home for a day or two, but it's a longer trip and you are probably missing out on a week’s training over there.”

Corcoran was delighted to see his players make amends for their 2023 Munster final heartbreak when they lost to Castlehaven on penalties.

“They lost the Munster final in ’23, the Kerry club final in ’24, and also the county final last year where we didn’t perform. We asked a lot of hard questions last winter. We rejigged a few things and I just think that bit of mental toughness and resilience has shone through over the county championship and into Munster,” he added.

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