As he unlaced his boots afterwards, the final time he’ll sit in a dressing room as a player, team-mates shuffled over to offer their thanks.

Numerous messages of a similar vein landed into his inbox on the drive home, with one or two signing off by asking him to reconsider his decision.

There’ll be no reprise, though. The body has had enough. The decision to bring the curtain down on his playing career was one Ó Sé settled on earlier this year. Retirement sits easily with him.

“Even though I am living in Tralee, my heart will always be in the Gaeltacht. It will always be my club. I am so proud of that club and where I came from. We’ve had some journey,” said Ó Sé of the 21 seasons he lined out for the club’s flagship team.

Having graduated to the intermediate team in 1997, Ó Sé was part of the Gaeltacht defence which secured promotion to the Kerry senior football championship at the end of the following year. And while two county senior titles were annexed in 2001 and 2003, as well as Munster success in the latter campaign, last year’s Kerry and Munster intermediate wins, for which he lined out at full-back and also wore the title of joint-manager, brought him greatest satisfaction.

The club medals I won are just as important as those I won with Kerry. I really mean that. The club means so much to me.

“When I finished with Kerry at the end of 2016, it was nice to go back and give my all to the club. I took so much joy out of how last year went. It was incredible.

“Conall Ó Cruadhlaoich, who was joint-manager with me, has been outstanding. When he asked me to get involved with him ahead of the 2017 season, I knew that with him at the helm we were going to be successful.”

The sole downside of their 2017 campaign spilling into this year, as they prepared for an All-Ireland club semi-final against eventual champions Moy of Tyrone, was that there was no proper break during the winter.

Ó Sé could certainly have done with one. This year, says the five-time All-Ireland medal winner, has been a constant battle to keep himself injury-free. Persistently plagued by a shoulder injury, the pain can be such that he’s not able to do a single push-up.

“I knew that this year was it. My shoulder was giving me awful bother. Little things were constantly cropping up. When you have injuries like that, the enjoyment goes a small bit. It is harder to get yourself right. I knew if I could get to the end of the year that would be the end for me.

“When you lose that yard of pace, it’s harder to stay close to your man. I was being used as a utility player. That was to make it easier on myself. There’s a young crop of players coming up. They’ll drive it on. I’m looking forward to being a Gaeltacht supporter. The club is hosting Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta in 2019 so that’s something else to look forward to.”

As you’d expect of a man who has given so much of his being to serving club and county, Ó Sé will never be too far away from a football field.

“I’m managing the Tralee CBS Corn Uí Mhuirí team and we start our campaign tomorrow. I am looking forward to relaxing for a while with my family and having Sundays to myself again and doing as I please. I’ll have a bit more freedom, I suppose.”

Freedom well earned.

Killian Young last night confirmed to Radio Kerry’s Terrace Talk that he will make himself available to new Kerry football manager Peter Keane in 2019.

Speculation had surrounded the inter-county future of the 31-year-old after an injury-ravaged season.