Kingdom never had doubts, says delighted Fitzmaurice

Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice praised his players for the confident manner in which they closed out this Munster decider.

Leading by 0-13 to 0-5 at the break, reference was made to recent Munster finals where the Kingdom had let slip significant interval advantages. There was to be no repeat, as Kerry outscored the hosts by 0-11 to 0-7 in the second half to run out most convincing winners.

“We mentioned it, of course we did. As we were going into the tunnel, I was saying it to the lads about last year. Diarmuid Murphy actually mentioned to me about 2008 here in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. I think we were up by eight points at half-time that day too, Michael Cussen came on at full-forward in the second-half and Cork beat us that day,” recalled Fitzmaurice.

“So we were conscious we had to keep doing what we were doing and in fairness to the lads, they stuck at it. Even though Cork came out and got three points in a row and were coming at us, the boys settled again and we got a couple of scores. After that, the game was ours to lose.

“We figured it would be a very tight game going down the stretch. Kerry-Cork games are traditionally like that. Any time there has been a big margin between the teams in Páirc Uí Chaoimh it’s because Cork have been well ahead of us. Last year we had a big lead at half-time and we didn’t keep the scoreboard ticking over. Cork came right back at us and it took a great Brendan Kealy save at the end of the game, whereas this year we kept the scoreboard ticking over in the second half. That was important and the gap was always too big for Cork to bridge it.”

As you would expect when the scoreline reads 0-24 to 0-12, Fitzmaurice could not find fault with a single player donning the green and gold. A perfect performance then? No such thing, he insisted.

“There was no one that was in trouble at any stage in the game, and our six subs came on and impacted as well. There were five fellas that didn’t even come on today, and there were seven fellas below in Kerry that didn’t even make the squad, so there is a real squad ethic there. I’m just delighted for the lads because they have worked ferociously hard all year and at times we didn’t have a level of consistency in our performance. It was nice to put it together today and it was nice to win the game and Munster cup.”

Special mention, of course, for the flawless James O’Donoghue.

“He played 35 minutes last Saturday in our internal match, he was sharp again Tuesday night, sharper Thursday night, sharp in Fota last night and very sharp today. He’s probably a bit of a freak of nature, in that there are not too many fellas can be out for a couple of weeks with an injury and come in as sharp as he does. But we knew he had form like that from last year. He had a hamstring injury the time of the Cavan game but was jumping out of his skin for the Dublin game so we knew there was no fear of him.”

Yesterday’s joust was the first meeting of the two since Cork’s emphatic 2-18 to 1-11 league win back in March. The manager was quick, however, to dismiss it as a motivating factor.

“Not so much today. I think it was a motivating factor as we began Championship preparations. It was at the back of our mind that we weren’t happy with our performance. We felt we left our own supporters down in Kerry that day. It was disappointing when a big Kerry crowd came out and we fell so flat on our faces. We dealt with that, there wasn’t much more reference to it.”

Raised expectation for the All-Ireland quarter-finals? “Not really. We’re used to expectations in Kerry. We actually find it strange when it’s the other way. That won’t be a problem.”