WHEN Declan O’Keeffe tips down to Kerry in the summer with his family he often goes out west to Ventry, to Páídí O’Sé’s pub.
But there is a hole there.
No doubt about it and he's not the only one who feels that way.
READ MORE: Páidí Ó Sé - 10 years after
“It’s just not the same,” says the Kerry double All-Ireland winning goalkeeper, who was handed his debut by O’Sé and spent his entire county career under him.
Today is the 10th anniversary of Páídí O’Sé’s untimely passing at just 57 years of age in December 2012.
As GAA icons go, he was right up there. Eight All-Ireland medals as a player and two more Sam Maguires as a manager. A five-time All Star.
Westmeath’s first and only Leinster Championship winning boss (2004).
Friend of politicians and the famous. The morning after the famine ended with the 1997 All-Ireland victory, Páídí whisked O’Keeffe and the Sam Maguire off to see former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.
Images abound. The grain of rice and the loaf of bread. Biblical stuff.
The cream tinos. The lemon polo shirt, collar up. Naturally. Prowling the line.
Double All Star O’Keeffe, from the Rathmore club, but now based in Clare, says O’Sé would have loved their 25 year reunion out on Croke Park last July when the ‘97 Kingdom All-Ireland winning team were honoured before Kerry’s All-Ireland final victory over Galway.
As it was, his grandson, Páídí Óg was out on the field that afternoon with his father, Kerry forward Paul Geaney.
“He (O'Sé) was the only one missing,” says O’Keeffe.
“He loved when we were all together and meeting up. He was such a rogue around us all. He was sorely missed.
“Meeting Darragh and Tomás I couldn’t eat my dinner with Darragh having the crack and Páídí was the same. He wasn’t here and that’s it and that’s life I suppose.
“Páídí Óg was there to represent him afterwards which was great.
“T’was always great to meet up with him. He was such a character, like any of the O’Sés.
“You meet them. You definitely leave with a broader smile on your face.”
As Kerry manager, O’Sé trained with the players. It was an entirely natural thing for them.
“He would have togged off every night,” says O’Keeffe. “Sure we had great craic. He was in rude health at that time.
“He was very fit. Ah, very strong. He brought that strength that he had in his playing days.”
After training in the summer they used to have 45 kicking competitions.
“He used to kick them dead straight and they were bullets out of a gun,” recalls O'Keeffe. “We had great sport with him doing that.
“He was a great man to throw the arm around you and again, he’d give you a kick up the backside if he thought you needed it as well. He had all them attributes.
“There was fierce fun with him as well. Deadly serious but great sense of humour.
“He was able to lift a squad with that kind of camaraderie and humour. It’s as important today as it was back then, having a good atmosphere around and lifting a team.”
O’Keeffe continues: “That sense of camaraderie was in the dressing room. He togged on and togged off with us. That was normal for us.
“It was jovial beforehand. It was jovial afterwards, but I tell you one thing, the work was done in between.
“I suppose when it came to picking teams and dropping players and bringing on players and that, he did keep his distance, like every manager has to do.
“But definitely he fostered that kind of camaraderie within the dressing room and he was very much a part of that.”
O’Keeffe wasn’t surprised at O’Sé’s success in Westmeath in 2004, the year after he parted ways with Kerry following the 2003 All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Tyrone.
“He is such an inspiring figure and such a great trainer,” he continues. “We have seen the videos and all that of Westmeath, but he is much more than that, much more thoughtful.
“I could never see him training a team other than Kerry, but we know that’s a very narrow way of looking at things.
“It was great to see him get that rebirth with Westmeath and he was able to show he could do it with another county. I was delighted for him at the time.
“He’d come out with a couple of nuggets. He’d such a great sense of humour.
“He was almost like a politician really. He could judge us all. He’d have a smart remark for you and put you back in your place.
“You won’t get by with soundbites. He was much more than a soundbite manager. I can assure you of that.”
O’Keeffe says O’Sé was “a thoughtful football man.”
He continues: “I think a lot of people kind of underestimate Páídí in the sense that it was all brawn. It was far from it.
“In ‘96, ‘97 as opposed to the modern managers he actually physically trained the team and managed the team, which was an amazing achievement.
“Who could argue with a man like Páídí with eight All-Ireland medals. He was such a passionate man. We all looked up to him so much.
“Look, he brought Kerry out of the doldrums. Obviously he had talent at his disposal like many a manager before him had.
“He was able to bring fellas together and bring it out. He was an inspiring coach really.
“I remember in ‘97 in particular, it kind of started it off, the sense of forwards defending.
“I remember him being kind of hard on the likes of Michael Francis (Russell), Dara Ó Cinnéide, Maurice (Fitzgerald). They had to do their part in defending.
“It’s such a part of the modern game now. You have so many people dropping back and so many people tackling back.”
O’Keeffe continues: “A lot of people wouldn’t know he did the physical training.
“I remember him sending Donal Daly or Darragh (O'Sé) to the showers. He’d send Maurice to the showers, or down to the Gleneagle (Hotel), to the pool or to have the meal half an hour before us.
“He had a great sense like a horse trainer of when a fella was tiring or when a fella had enough, he’d let them off.
“I suppose he got that from his own playing days.
“The likes of Seamus (Moynihan), Eamonn Fitz (Fitzmaurice), he could flog us all day and he knew that. We probably deserved a lot of the flogging that we got.
“He was very tuned in that way.”
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