Old head Moran leading Keane’s young guns
Peter Keane, as he normally does, kept his answers short and sweet when sat before a gathering of reporters not long after the final whistle.
When asked what Kerry had done well, he could have gone on at length at how they were defensively solid, how they retained possession from their own kickouts, how they spoiled ample Mayo restarts, how they were direct, sharp, ruthless, and, above, clinical in front of goal.
Instead, he chose to cite their hard work, and nothing else.
“I thought we worked very hard in that first-half,” said Keane. “The heat out there, I don’t know where ye were sitting but it was very warm out there, especially in that first half.
"Our fellas worked like dogs out there. That was probably where the game was won, in the first half.”
Yes, but your team also wreaked havoc under the Mayo restart?
“In the first half, maybe not so much in the second. We were happy enough with how we did.”
Again, short and sweet. No frills, no elaborating.
Chief trouble-maker under those Mayo kickouts had been 31-year-old David Moran, the second oldest member of the starting team after Shane Enright.
“David is playing very well, did very well against Cork, really closed out the game for us. Did very well again today.
"We’re very happy with where he’s at because we need that bit of experience on the field. We have a young squad, a young team, a lot of young lads getting used to it, and we need that type of experience. They are showing that experience.”
Even if they were not tested to the extent they had been against Cork, this was a much tighter defensive effort from Kerry than the Munster final.
Keane would not be drawn on pre-match criticisms of his rearguard or the perceived lack of action by management to address shortcomings in this area.
“Who said that,” he replied, before quickly adding, “I wouldn’t take any notice of that.”
He continued: “We’re happy enough with where we’re going. It’s game by game. Like I said to ye after the last game, the first game was against Clare and we wanted to go and win that and we did. We went out and beat Cork then.
There was an expectation going into the Cork game that we were going to hammer them altogether, we never had that expectation.
"Suddenly, when we didn’t hammer them, after telling ye we wouldn’t hammer them, it was our fault because we were wrong.
“You can’t be right and you can’t be wrong; you have to be something. We got out of it, it was a tough game, and look at what Cork subsequently did.
“We kicked well today, 1-22, after 1-19 against Cork, so we’re quite happy with the kicking.”
References to the league final and how Kerry had gone from being bullied to bully didn’t much interest the Kingdom manager.
“The league final was three and a half months ago. How many changes have we made since the league final to our starting team?
“We had eight changes. That’s more than half a team. I wasn’t overly concerned about the league final.
"I don’t think ye believe me at all when I’d be talking to you.”
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