‘I was marking fellas 20 years younger than me’–ÓSé

Michael Verney TOMÁS Ó SÉ has no complaints with a “great innings” after the Kerry legend brought the curtain down on his glittering football career over the weekend but the “buzz of the dressing room” will be sorely missed as he sails off into the sunset.

Ó Sé almost had the fairytale send-off with his adopted club Nemo Rangers in the All-Ireland club SFC final – only to run into a Corofin juggernaut – but with five All-Ireland titles to his name, he’s happy to hang up the boots before turning 40 this summer.

“I think it is the right time, I’m basically marking fellas 20 years younger than me. When you start hearing them roaring in from the line, ‘Take him on a tour, he doesn’t have the legs’,” Ó Sé told Independent.ie’s Throw-In podcast.

“I’d hate to answer them back, they’re probably dead right. It was brilliant, I was lucky because I had no major injuries. I loved training and I loved the buzz of being inside the dressing room. TROUBLE

“I’m going to miss that, that’s the biggest thing I’m going to miss. I’d a great innings out of it and I didn’t think Nemo would end up in Croke Park, it was a fantastic year. I’m going to spend my time getting my handicap down now.”

Earlier this year Kildare captain Eoin Doyle felt the wrath of referee David Gough for not having his gumshield in during their Division 1 FL defeat to Donegal and five-time All-Star Ó Sé feared he might also be in “serious trouble” against on St Patrick’s Day for a similar offence.

“I actually got way with... and this will prove that I’m serious about retirement. I’d no gumshield in the All-Ireland final and Gough was refereeing and I thought I’d be in serious trouble but I got away with it,” Ó Sé quipped.

“And I can say that now because I don’t need to buy a gumshield.”