Kickouts not fatigue the crux for Kerry in Donegal 'hammering', says Sean O'Shea

Kerry's captain in the league final diagnosed what went wrong against Donegal. 

Kerry’s Sean O'Shea dejected after the League final defeat by Donegal. Pic: James Crombie, Inpho

A post-National League Final sit down with Seán O'Shea and there is some confusion.

Kerry's starting captain from last Sunday is asked what it felt like when Donegal whipped up a storm and got a run of scores on them?

"Are you talking about the first half or the second half?" inquired O'Shea, wondering if it was Donegal's succession of first-half points or the three goals they scored in almost as many second-half minutes that was being asked about.

Which neatly summed up just what a bad day it was overall for the Kingdom.

"Look, it was a right hammering," acknowledged O'Shea at AIB's launch of the 2026 All-Ireland SFC. "The scoreboard at the end was probably a bit generous to us, that we were able to get the second goal and tag a few points on at the end. But it was a really heavy defeat."

So what was it like, being outfought and overwhelmed, and ground into submission on their own restarts?

"That's something that's happening in the game at the moment, these big swings of momentum, and around kick-outs," said O'Shea.

"I think a lot of it probably does come down to kick-outs, both sides, just getting your hands on the ball and trying to arrest that momentum.

"We weren't able to do it the last day in the first half, especially in that period. And then also conceding three goals in a four-minute spell in the second half.

"It's like, if you concede three goals any day, you're not going to win many games with that. But also that period in the first half, on top of that we were dominated on our own kick-out. And when we did get the chance to get up the field (and Donegal had a kick-out), they were getting theirs away.

"So that was the crux of the issue really, just trying to get your hands on the ball and trying to find ways to feel that momentum."

O'Shea doesn't buy into the fatigue theory, that Kerry's fourth game in March was one too many. And specifically, that they'd essentially emptied all their physical and mental reserves by drawing with Armagh, in Armagh, the previous weekend. Even Jack O'Connor suggested that was the case.

"As players you never really look at it like that," he said. "Jack has a good eye on those things and he's able to watch from the sideline in training. But when you're in the middle of it, and when you're preparing for a game, you're never thinking about the weekend before."

For O'Shea, it's more to do with the fact that Donegal 'came with a game plan and they executed it brilliantly'.

And that's where O'Connor's postmortem will go to, how Kerry were unable to prevent Donegal correcting many of the issues that dogged them in last July's All-Ireland final and imposing their strategy on the Munster champions this time.

"We've played eight games this year and you're coming away from every game reflecting back and thinking, 'Right, what did we do well and what did we not do well?'" said O'Shea. "The last game, there's a lot in the category of what we didn't do well. That category of things we did well in is probably very short."

There were some mitigating factors. Principally, the players they were without. Gavin White didn't feature at all in the League, neither did Brian O Beaglaoich nor Shane Ryan. There was no Paudie Clifford on final day either.

"Those fellas you mentioned are unbelievable footballers and at the top of their game, and at a great age to be playing football, so of course you're going to miss them," said O'Shea. "But we've great confidence in our squad, no matter what team you put out on the day. Look, it's the situation we were in. You're never going to have everyone available on a given day, so it's just the attitude of 'next man up'."

Despite it all, O'Shea still sees value in staging League finals.

"I think there's definitely merit in it," he said. "It is a tough campaign. I think we played, was it eight games in 10 or 11 weeks? So it's definitely a tough competition, but we love playing games. I think the League is a great system. It gives great value from Round 1 all the way through. I think it's nice to finish it off on a final day with finals."