Regrets and what ifs for Peter Keane’s Legion

With a great sense of pride, Peter Keane praised his Legion players after narrowly coming out the wrong side of a titanic duel.

There were regrets too. After leading by seven points, there couldn’t but be regrets. However, Keane took a lot from how a Legion side with no pedigree performed in both matches.

“I look at the South Kerry players and the St Mary’s players who have been in junior finals and intermediate finals and South Kerry finals. That’s where they’re getting their experience from.

“We went in two weeks ago and one of the biggest worries I had was ‘would we perform?’ There wouldn’t have been any indication in the past that we could come from nowhere to do it.

“But we did and again today we went out and played some fantastic football for many parts of that game.

“But there were opportunities we didn’t take and in not taking them South Kerry won.

“There was a cup there and we’re disappointed we’re not going home with the cup.

“It was a huge achievement to get here coming from where we were but that said you’ve got to take those chances when they are there. There are no half-measures in that.”

Legion’s season is not yet finished with the O’Donoghue Cup and an important Division 1 game with Austin Stacks on the radar but Keane wasn’t looking ahead just yet. “We’re after losing a final after two epic battles.

“We came with one intention today and that was to win a cup. We’ll worry about those things down the road.”