O’Shea philosophical despite ‘foot block’ controversy
But, in a fleeting conversation with Colm Cooper, he was left in no doubt that a Derry defender stopped Donaghy’s kick by raising his foot.
The last act of the referee before blowing the final whistle was to show Cooper a (second) yellow card for questioning his decision. And, the Kerry management could have grievances over his resultant dismissal because of the doubtful nature of the first card about six minutes after he was introduced — when a linesman’s call led to a booking for the Crokes star and his marker, Kevin McGuckin.
“It was very hard (to see if it was a foot-block) from where we were,” said O’Shea.
“Most of the lads would have been a little bit closer and they seemed to think it was. I don’t know to be honest, I’d have to see it. Colm said it was a foot-block.”
And, making it clear that he was sympathetic towards his club-mate over the initial booking, he added: “Obviously all players are going to come in for a certain amount of treatment.
“It’s only a week ago since we had sanctions and discipline and stuff like that. There’s quite a lot (that happens) off the ball. That’s part of the game. There’s a responsibility on all the players. Some are going to come in for a bit more scrutiny than others.”
In real terms, he admitted that they failed because they didn’t win enough ‘primary possession.’ It was a case of ‘going off the boil,’ not managing to play for the full 70 minutes.
Overall, the Kerry boss was quite philosophical about his team’s defeat, saying that while they would go away ‘and lick their wounds,’ they could have no real complaints. “Fair dues to Derry, we didn’t perform well enough — particularly in the second half — to win the game. That’s why they won it.
“Obviously it’s never easy to lose finals, never easy to lose games. We started quite well, we controlled the early part of the first half, but to be fair to Derry they got the upper hand in the middle third. They used it as their platform and they carried the ball well. They have good players, we always said that it was always going to be a tough game. We don’t have a complaint.’
The only time O’Shea dropped his guard was when he was asked about a comment alleged to have been made on radio at half-time by Derry management member John McCluskey — to the effect that Kerry ‘were a bit cynical’. Without changing his expression or his voice, he calmly replied: “obviously a very educated GAA man!’
Meanwhile, Darren O’Sullivan agreed that ‘the best team won on the day,’ but that didn’t make it any easier for him to accept defeat. “It’s a national final and you want to win them all. The couple of years I have been in here you get used to winning. This is a hard one to swallow. Whether it is League, Munster championship or even McGrath Cup, you want to win everything.
“I’d say that about five or 10 minutes before half time we let them get into it. Maybe we got too good a start, but they got a bit of momentum going and they were hard to stop. They are a good team, I can’t see them not being there or thereabouts at the end of the year.”
And, while he was happy to get the ball in the net — saying to a cousin beforehand that he was long overdue a goal — he admitted that he should have had a hat-trick!
* GAA President Nickey Brennan was delighted with the standard of play in both games. And, he said that despite the criticism, they ‘definitely’ got the venue right “In a bigger stadium the crowd would have been dwarfed,” he remarked.
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