Work ethic was secret to our success, says captain Kavanagh

WHEN Kerry hammered Cork in last season’s All-Ireland semi-final, Billy Morgan was one of the few to keep the faith with players.

“Billy never lost his belief in us and I think we have now repaid him,” said ‘man of the match’ James Masters.

“A brilliant win, and a just reward,” echoed team captain Derek Kavanagh, as he proudly raised the cup to a multitude of supporters.

“We have been slogging away over the past number of seasons but with no success. Finally it has come together..

“I thought the key to our success was our work ethic. The strength of this Kerry team is breaking out of defence but I think we succeeded in stopping their momentum.

“It was pure hard work and graft, and I think our fitness level were superior. Kerry seemed to be flagging at the end, while we were still able to go at full steam.

“We had two of our most influential players sidelined in the second half but the subs who came on worked their socks off. We have 30 players on the panel and every one of us wants to be on the starting 15,” said Kavanagh.

There were few Kerry players available for comment at the final whistle yesterday, but Mike Frank Russell, every gracious in defeat, offered a few words to the waiting media.

“This defeat comes as no surprise,” he said. “Cork have been coming for a year or two, have won three U21 titles in a row and were always going to take over at some stage. Today was the day.

“In fairness to Cork, they were very aggressive and hungry. Any team that Billy Morgan puts out will test you, and they certainly did that to us today.

“Cork had a good game plan again today and it worked well for them. Their two big men in the middle of the field won them a lot of possession which meant their forwards got a lot of ball and made great use of it.”

Russell also dismissed report that the Kerry camp has been blighted by internal problems since the drawn game against Cork in Killarney last Sunday.

The Laune Rangers man added: “We came up here to Páirc Uí Chaoímh today to play football like we always do. We have a couple of weeks to get back to serious training. We have a bit of work to do.

“Kerry are in a similar position to Tyrone last year and they went on to win the All-Ireland. I see no reason why we cannot do the same.”