'It’s been a saga, an absolute rollercoaster', says South Kerry's John Sugrue

South Kerry may have been seven points down early in the second-half but manager John Sugrue never doubted his players. In the drawn game 14 days’ previous, they were four points in arrears in the first-half but the mountain they scaled on this occasion was a snowier peak.

Even when the inspirational Bryan Sheehan fell foul of a dubious black card in the first half of extra-time, Sugrue didn’t lament: “Bryan got sent off earlier on in the year and fellas stepped up to the plate.

“We’ve had different fellas on different days. I knew it; I knew it in our hearts that we would be hard to crack because we had different fellas stepping up on different days. Today was no different.