While most players take the opportunity to rest and recover during the off-season, Mark O'Connor had vastly different plans during his time away from Geelong. 

Those plans included a stint back in his homeland, Ireland, playing alongside childhood friends in the 2025 Kerry Senior Football Championship. 

Representing his local club Dingle, O'Connor and his teammates marched all the way to the Championship Final, looking to achieve something that no Dingle team had done since 1948. 

On Sunday afternoon, they did just that and triumphed over Austin Stacks in the Final, winning the Kerry Senior Football Championship for the first time in 77 years. 

Following the incredible victory, O'Connor said it was a special and emotional moment for him and his family. 

"We did, finally. It is just extra special, we are such a small town," O'Connor told Irish Sports Breakfast Radio show 'Off the Ball.'

"Obviously it has been the same faces that have been in the crowd, ever since I was in Under-10s.

"Getting to look up to the crowd before the game probably didn't help me at all, my emotions were a bit too high. But look, it happens and I don't care really, we got through."

It was not all smooth sailing in the Championship Final for O'Connor.

The Cats star was black carded in the third minute of the match, Gaelic Football's version of the 'Sin Bin,' which sent O'Connor to the sidelines for 10 minutes. 

Funnily enough, the infringement was described as an 'AFL-style tackle' by on-lookers.

Despite the moment early on, O'Connor returned to the field and played his role in Dingle's victory, helping them to secure an emotional win. 

The Cats defender said that it is an achievement that means so much to him, a drought-breaking triumph in front of so many familiar faces. 

"It means everything, I broke down later and my voice is gone," O'Connor said.

"I broke down and if I get into it now, I will probably start crying again and I won't do that on camera.

"But looking up and seeing my family in the stands and as I said the same faces, it's the parents of the lads that were playing out there today and they raised us all the way through. To see them, it is very hard to keep a lid on things.

"With our history, we are not the biggest club as I mentioned, going back to 1948 was the last time we won. Trying to keep a lid on that is tough."