Jack O’Connor has stepped down as Kerry manager after their exit from the All-Ireland Football Championship quarter-finals.
O’Connor decided to call time on his second tenure with the Kingdom after the disappointment of defeat to Donegal in Croke Park last weekend.
O’Connor led Kerry to All-Ireland success in 2009 but they were beaten by Down in the last eight the following season and lost to Dublin in dramatic fashion last year in the decider.
A statement from Kerry GAA said: "Jack O’Connor has confirmed to the Chairman of Kerry County Committee Patrick O’Sullivan that he has resigned as Kerry Senior Team manager.
"The Chairman wishes on behalf of Kerry GAA to thank Jack, his selectors and backroom team for all their commitment and hard work over the past number of years."
O'Connor told RTÉ Radio's Saturday Sport that he felt it was the correct moment to move on: "I felt myself it was the right time to go. I intimated that to the board and they told me take a few days. I met with the management team during the week and we decided then and there.
"The chairman Patrick O’Sullivan was a good guy to work with and said to take a few more days to be sure. I woke up this morning and felt it was the right decision.
"I’ve been with some of these guys for a long time. I’ve been with the likes of Tomas O Se back as far as 1998 at Under-21 level. We’ve soldiered long and hard and won a good bit, and lost a bit, so I just feel it is the right time for a new voice in the dressing room.
"There was another year’s left on the management’s contract but you know in your gut when it is time to go and I felt I squeezed as much as I possibly could out of this particular team and a new voice coming in will get more out of them.
"I don’t think they are finished by any stretch of the imagination.
"I had to work very hard this year to get the boys form turned around and I felt we did that over the last month or so but we met a hungrier, stronger team than us last Sunday and sometimes you just have to face reality and that my time was up with this team."
It was O'Connor's second term in charge of his native county.
The Dromid Pearses clubman took over from Páidí Ó Sé in 2003 and brought home All-Ireland titles in 2004 and 2006 before stepping down for the first time.
Kerry U-21 manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice is the early front-runner to replace O'Connor. The Kingdom have never gone outside the county for a manager, and are unlikely to buck that trend this time.
