PLAYING against the All-Ireland champions and needing every break they could get, why did underdogs Waterford opt to play against the strong wind in Dungarvan yesterday?

Kerry 2-15 Mayo 0-18

ALL-IRELAND champions Kerry will begin the defence of their National League title without four leading attackers, including captain, Declan O’Sullivan, who undergoes an operation next week to repair cartilage damage to his knee.

WAS this the most elaborate confidence trick ever? Every human is fallible, but the air of quiet satisfaction evident in the Kerry dressing room after the All-Ireland final landslide suggested that the display did not come as a surprise to those inside the ropes.

MIKE Frank Russell may take more important penalties in his intercounty career but Sunday’s strike against Dublin is already amongst his most memorable.

ONE of the obvious defects of the qualifier system in the Bank of Ireland football championship is that the provincial winners only learn of their opponents in the All-Ireland quarter-finals a week in advance.

Kerry 1-12

WHERE do the years go? It is a measure of how fast the last one’s flown that Johnny Crowley is a substitute for Kerry on Sunday — albeit a very live one.

OKAY, so we know about the Kerry full forward line. The two corner boys, Mike Frank’s deadly feet and the other one who looks young enough to be breaking child safety laws when he’s sent out for over an hour in the company of Enda McNulty.

BEFORE the game, some worried about him, others scoffed at the hype.

JOHN O'MAHONY was giving nothing away about his future with Galway footballers following yesterday's defeat, pointing out that there was a Connacht U-21 final to be played in 10 days' time and that they'd have to stay around for that.