Ó Sé: Kingdom were determined to make it payback time

QUESTIONS had been asked about the validity of Kerry’s qualifier wins, in particular about the relative strength of Kildare and then Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

But the doubting Thomases got their answer in Croke Park yesterday in a manner that exceeded most people’s expectations. Board chairman Seán Walsh had been right all along when he said that their team were “waiting in the long grass” for Cork. Yesterday, that wait proved worthwhile for jubilant manager Páidí Ó Sé and everybody involved with the team.

It had begun the evening that an unprepared Kerry lost by a three-point margin to Cork in the Bank of Ireland Munster semi-final replay in Páirc Uí Chaoimh - in a game they readily admit they could have conceded five goals.