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Monday, July 27, 2009
ONCE again a minnow had come to tackle the Kerry citadel and once again they were left to lick their wounds and consider what might have been.
It was an heroic effort from Antrim and such was the energy with which they attacked their exalted opponents that the Kingdom could count themselves very fortunate to be just a point in arrears at the break, despite having a strong wind at their backs.
Liam Bradley has had a hugely impressive year in transforming Antrim into a side to be feared and he was full of praise for his men.
"I’m very proud of the players," he said. "They put in a tremendous effort but at the end of the day it just wasn’t good enough.
"Lack of experience cost us that second goal. Tomás O Sé drifted away from young Conor Murray, it was just one of those things. Probably Kerry’s experience pulled them over the line in the end."
Antrim’s dogged defence led to Kerry coughing up possession at an astonishing rate. They broke at pace and carved open a number of goalscoring opportunities, with Diarmuid Murphy saving from point-blank range on two occasions from James Loughrey.
Bradley continued: "We missed two goals. We went in at half-time, we probably should have been three or four up instead of winning by just a point.
"We started well enough in the second half but Kerry got back into it and that was always going to happen.
"At the end of the day I’m proud of the lads; we fought hard. Everybody says Kerry are a poor side; I don’t think they are and I think when they get to Croke Park they’ll prove that."
His team struggled to win clean possession from kickouts, with Seamus Scanlon very effective in the midfield battles. They did win quite a few breaks, he pointed out, although conceding that Michael Quirke had a significant impact after his introduction. Bradley made no bones about the tactics he employed, having pinpointed a weakness in the Kerry rearguard, and exploited it in the opening half with the direct and strong running of his wing-backs.
"We knew Kerry were vulnerable with teams running at them, and so it proved in the first half, but we just fell up short in the end."
He was sanguine about the incident four minutes into the second half, where Marc O Sé was very lucky to escape with a yellow card after an altercation with Terry O’Neill, who was booked.
"I never saw any of the off-the-ball stuff and maybe there was an incident or two but that happens in games.
"The referee had a very good game albeit I thought Kerry got a few handy ones to go two or three up, but that’s the way it goes."
It has been a successful year for Antrim though, by any standards but it mustn’t stop here for it to be worthwhile.
"When I came into the job the first thing I wanted to gain for Antrim football was respect and we’ve gained that," said Bradley. "We have to build on this, it’s no good unless we do."
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