New Kerry boss Jack O’Connor had little chance to run the rule over Stefan Okunbor as he made his Gaelic football comeback appearance at the weekend.
Okunbor, who has just returned to Ireland after a three-year spell with AFL club Geelong, only lasted some 19 minutes of his club Na Gaeil’s intermediate quarter-final win over Ballydonoghue on Sunday before retiring through injury.
An All-Ireland minor winner, he played under-20 football for Kerry under O’Connor before his departure for Australia.
“He had a lot of potential,” said O’Connor ahead of the weekend. “The second last game that I managed him was out here in Austin Stack Park, where he was full-back against Cork marking that big guy who went to Australia Mark Keane and got Man of the Match that evening and finished up getting Munster player of the year in 2018.
“He has fantastic athleticism but he has been away from the game for two or three years and it remains to be seen has he still got the ball skills.
“I am looking forward to watching him playing with his club Na Gaeil in the next week or so just to see if he has retained the ball-handling skills because it just not as easy as easy as people think it is.
“When Tadgh Kennelly came home it took him quite a while to get to grips with the round ball again.
“It remains to be seen. He has got the athleticism, the raw physique to play at the top level, 100% but it comes down to ball skills, decision-making and stuff like that.”
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
