McEnaney: the team which beats Kerry will win the All-Ireland

SEAMUS MCENANEY is looking forward to the day when some of the current Kerry stars move on. And, as he indicated after yesterday’s defeat in Croke Park, there is no guarantee that he will remain on as manager.

Right now, he agrees that the champions remain a serious nut to crack for anybody in the country, that they are still the team to beat and that they could be the best team of all time if they complete the three-in-a-row.

McEnaney met the media minutes after the final whistle, explaining that he had little time to reflect on what had happened out on the field. But, he was composed enough to pay tribute to his players for the effort they put into a game they believed they could win, while at the same time admitting his side had failed to make the best of their scoring chances.

“We have come a long way in four years, but not as far as we’d like. We thought we’d push on and lift honours this year. That’s very, very disappointing,” he said, adding that losing had been “twice as bad as it was last year” — when Kerry beat them by a point in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

“At half-time we trusted each other we’d pull this one out of the fire. We got our chances, (but) didn’t take them.”

He said he would make up his mind in six weeks whether to stay or to go — “I have given four years of my life to this job, I have a young family and a business to run” — and he agreed that the Kerry goal had been “a killer”. And, it was all the more frustrating, he conceded, because they had a couple of chances themselves (including a goal opportunity) at a stage when the teams were tied at 10 points each.

Temporarily turning the game around after the break was down to a few changes which he felt they had to make. We felt a couple of particular players were dominating the game,” McEnaney reflected. ‘‘We weren’t working hard enough, we weren’t putting in enough tackles and we felt we were giving Kerry too much room in around the middle third of the field. We felt we took the game to Kerry straight after half-time. We were well in the game. We had plenty of chances to win it.”

The pity of it all, he suggested, was that it was Monaghan’s bad luck that any time they came to Croke Park with a good team, Kerry were “on their road”. It had happened in the seventies, in the eighties and now twice in the current decade.

“But, the reality is that Kerry are on everybody’s road. No matter what team comes or goes, Kerry are the team to beat in the country. They always will be,” he said.

“This could be the best team of all time. If they win this All-Ireland they are going to be the best team of all time. The team which beats Kerry will win the All-Ireland.”