Keith Ricken: 'In the last few minutes, there was absolutely no plan. They just had to dig it out'

Cork U20 manager Keith Ricken: In the last few minutes, there was absolutely no plan. They just had to dig it out

Cork manager Keith Ricken praised the manner in which his troops found a way to engineer the winning point, having not raised a flag of any description in the 19 minutes prior to Ciaran O’Sullivan’s game-deciding score.

“It was tough going for us there at the finish, but isn’t it lovely to see boys figuring it out on the field. That’s what it is about,” said Ricken “It is a safe environment - sport, the worst you’ll do is lose a match. That’s the worst that will happen. You will be disappointed, but you won’t be devastated as there is no one dead, there is nothing you can’t get over.

“So it was good to see the lads, when the proverbial hit the fan, try and work it out and put in a shift. It was great to see the lads step up and figure it out because sometimes there is no plan. In the last few minutes, there was absolutely no plan. They just had to dig it out. That’s a learning they'll take from this.”

Kerry manager Declan O’Sullivan pointed to the third quarter - during which Kerry fell seven in arrears - as the period most pivotal in Cork’s win. He also lamented the number of cheap turnovers by his side.

“The third quarter left us with a big task to try and claw back. We did it very well and near the end, we probably looked the more likely winners in the last couple of minutes in terms of our momentum and we were beginning to dominate around the middle of the field.

“But Cork showed they are a very good team, as well. They dug in and got the score in the end which was typical of them all night, very hard running, great support play, and got a great score to win it. You have to take your hat off to them."