 After qualifying he returned to Kerry, where he taught brief stints at a number of local schools and substituted at Glountane.After his father's death of recurring illness on April 30, 1915, he was called upon to take over as principal of Glountane National School, adjacent to the O'Keeffe home in Glountane Cross.John O'Keeffe had been known as a hard schoolmaster (even inciting a boycott against him in 1890), but Padraig did not carry on this legacy and was thought to have been as kind as his father was strict, and was thought to have been very progressive in his lessons, even holding lessons outside (in a style more reminiscent of a hedge school).