‘They are very encouraged they lived with Kerry’

YOU could say that he’s mellowing in his old age, that his vast experience as a player and manager over four decades of Cork/Kerry rivalry prepared him for occasions like this.

Yesterday in Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Billy Morgan took his team's defeat on the chin, naturally disappointed that they lacked the finishing power to achieved victory, but proud that they had pushed the All-Ireland champions all the way. It was, he agreed, so different to 12 months ago.

"That was devastating. I could not really understand the collapse," he recalled of his team's failure in the semi-final in Fitzgerald Stadium.

"At least, this time our fellows battled away to the very end, even though we didn't look like getting a goal. We might have had a chance when Anthony Lynch was going through and we had the overlap, and unfortunately we lost the ball.

"Last year I was taking over a team and I didn't really know the players. I had to give them their chance. After that I felt we had to move on, look for something new and bring in young fellows.

"We did that and I think they have improved the situation. They are very disappointed in the dressing room, but at the same time they are very encouraged they lived with Kerry and lived with them for the full 70 minutes."

In the opinion of the Cork manager, the goal scored by Kerry captain Declan O'Sullivan had been 'the difference' on the day. And, the circumstances in which the goal came about disappointed him, explaining that it was from 'a bad ball' that they lost at the Kerry end and which had been played the full length of the field.

"I wouldn't say they have gone back from last year," he added. "I think they are actually more experienced and street-wise. And as a result they are harder to beat. But, I think we have improved...

"There were a lot of positives to be taken from the game. We were able to win ball right through the field, we were playing well, dominating midfield. I thought Nicholas Murphy had an outstanding game. And when we attacked we seemed to be opening them up," he said.

"We're not out of the All-Ireland yet. We have a bit of time. If we were playing next weekend it would be very hard to lift their spirits. I hope they are encouraged by today's performance, I think they are. I certainly am."

His captain, Eoin Sexton, easily summed up the reaction of the Cork players in the dressing room after their narrow defeat in the Munster final. "Heartbroken to be beaten. That's about the size of it," he said. "What more can I say. Experience and confidence showed out there, absolutely no doubt about that......

"We just tried to put the (half-time) score out of our mind and start from a zero/zero score line again," he added. "We knew Kerry were going to come at us. They are a quality team and they showed it. Their cuteness and experience showed in the end.

Interestingly, he didn't see Cork's concession of the goal at an early stage of the second half aa a killer blow.

"To say that one score, or one incident, is going to change the game is probably a bit immature. We knew we just had to keep fighting.

Of course, it was going to have a big bearing, but there was still a bit of fight left in us after that."

And, like Billy Morgan, he is positive about the qualifier series. "At the end of the day we have got to get ourselves into the right frame of mind for the next game. There's no point in thinking about today's defeat for too long."