Frantic schedule

There was a part of Eamonn Fitzmaurice glad to see the back of this past weekend, irrespective of the defeats for Finuge and Kerry.

While Saturday brought the end to his football career, yesterday ended a hectic six-week schedule.

However, while Kerry have a three-week league break, Fitzmaurice is out again with Chorca Dhuibhne in a Corn Uí Mhuirí semi-final next weekend. There was part of him relieved to be.

“(Saturday) night was disappointing,” he said of his club’s All-Ireland intermediate final defeat to Cookstown. “What could go wrong did go wrong for us with Finuge.

“I haven’t reflected on it really, I just parked it up. I said I’d wait until this (Sunday) evening and I can start thinking about it again but it was disappointing.

“I suppose on the positive side, it’s still a fantastic thing to have got to play in Croke Park with your club and with the lads you grew up with all your life but it wouldn’t have been the performance or the ending we’d have been looking for but fairytales seldom happen.”

Fitzmaurice added: “I’ve had a crazy six weeks but I knew it was just a matter of getting to this evening and taking stock but things will settle now and it’ll be just the Kerry job, which is enough on its own anyway.”