Sheehan expected Limerick intensity

ON a sun-splashed day in Killarney, Bryan Sheehan experienced the sensation of lifting silverware in a Kerry senior jersey for the first time.

“We weren’t surprised by how Limerick started. We knew exactly that Limerick were going to come at us. We saw what they did to Cork last year below in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. They played with fierce intensity and people didn’t give them enough credit for what they’ve done and how good they are at the moment.

“We knew they were going to come at us with guns blazing and we were just lucky enough that we steadied the ship a small bit and kept the lead. We felt we had the firepower to kick on to win in the end and we did just that.”

Kerry’s efforts to tap into their A-game in the first-half were compromised by a swirling breeze. “I don’t think I’ve experienced a breeze that strong here in Killarney. It just made life very difficult especially with the scores. You could see both sides struggled a bit.”

Despite trailing by three points at the interval, the prevailing mood in the Kerry dressing-room was calm. Limerick were in the ascendancy on the scoreboard and had controlled the match for extended periods, yet Kerry had still racked up seven points and were very much in contention.

“We were happy to be just three points behind at the break,” stated Sheehan. “We were within touching distance, so we were relatively happy with how it was going. The wind was very difficult but I still thought we got a good score in seven points. We were just concerned that we stopped doing stupid things like kicking bad ball away. We had to come out in the second-half and play our own game then.

“But we knew Limerick were going to come at us at some stage. There was a stage there when we were seven points up and could have closed the game.”

Central to Kerry’s resurgence in the second-half was the arrival of Micheal Quirke to the fray. The Kerins O’Rahilly’s man yesterday strode forward to command proceedings.

“Micheal Quirke was brilliant. People talk about the loss of Daragh, but Micheal wasn’t getting the credit he deserved for the last few years. When he came in, he lorded it in the middle of the field. When the game was tight, he came good. He was very important and we kicked on from there.”