Eamonn Fitzmaurice: Pain of Tralee setback prompted reaction

The sting of last year’s defeat in Austin Stack Park was a major catalyst for Kerry in seeing off Monaghan yesterday according to Eamonn Fitzmaurice.

“We were probably smarting a bit from last year from the defeat in Tralee. We were very disappointed with ourselves. I was disappointed with the players and I was disappointed with my own performance that day.

“I felt we didn’t bring our A game and Monaghan beat us comprehensively. We knew the extent of the challenge (this weekend) but we knew as well that we were going well and if we kept playing that there was a big performance and thankfully that’s the way it worked out.”