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CIARAN STILL ON CLOUD 9

CIARAN KILKENNY has insisted that being sent off late in Dublin’s All-ireland final win over Mayo didn’t tarnish the occasion. Kilkenny was among a number of Dublin players that put the heat on Mayo’s forwards deep into stoppage time as they attempted a short kick-out. Goalkeeper David Clarke ended up punting the ball out over the sideline and Dublin cleverly held onto possession until the final whistle. Kilkenny, who had a thrilling head to head with Lee Keegan (inset), declined to discuss exactly what he did to get sent off but said it didn’t take any gloss off the famous win. Kilkenny said: “No, no, not at all. It was the 75th minute or something. David Clarke is incredible on the kick-outs, at getting them off short. So what I did was what I thought was the best decision for the team.” Dublin were accused of cynical play as they bottled up the Mayo forwards during that passage of play. But Kilkenny was delighted with how his colleagues handled the tense final couple of minutes. He said: “I was so proud, yeah. It was brilliant. I was looking on and the lads seemed in control.” Kilkenny added that the players have an incredible belief in each other to finish the job in the crucial closing minutes. The Castleknock man said: “You just need to trust. We have massive trust in each other, to keep going as hard as you can for as long as you can. If we all commit to that, hopefully we get a collective performance and a win. We believe in that big time.” The worst act of cynicism on Sunday came from reigning Footballer of the Year Keegan who tossed a GPS device in Dean Rock’s direction moments before kicking the winning free. It remains to be seen if the GAA take any action and Kilkenny declined to comment though spoke favourably about Keegan generally and their duel. “He’s a great footballer, he’s a very passionate Mayo man. I have a lot of respect for him.” “I think there was a stat there, that 48 per cent of their scores came from defence. So we knew that was a massive challenge for us as a forward unit. We put a lot of emphasis on that.”