O’Neill remains positive in defeat

IT would be unfair to describe Kerry manager Alan O’Neill as shell shocked last Sunday night in Killarney after his charges went down to Cork in the Ladies Munster Football Final however there was little he could do to disguise his disappointment.

His side came into the game with Cork on the back of two wins against the old enemy and seemingly honing in on another provincial crown however Cork had other ideas.

“We have to look at the fact that we only conceded two points from play in the whole game. The first goal was a mistake and the second goal from a penalty was harsh I feel but we have faced Cork plenty times and we know how they set up, especially if they get a lead.

“They are very hard to break down, they are very, very good at it and we trained for it. We knew that we would have to kick from distance especially with the wind but we didn’t take those opportunities and that cost us.

“We went in four at half time but we had the last four kicks of the half. We needed to get those but we didn’t and that proved costly.”

O’Neill also felt his side failed to live up to their performance in Macroom three weeks earlier.

“We didn’t perform, simple as that. We didn’t move the ball fast like we did in Macroom. Lots of handling mistakes. We were slow, we laboured through the middle of the field and by the time we got through the middle third the Cork defence was set and we couldn’t get through.

“The night in Macroom we turned over no ball from the hand pass. Tonight we turned it over about 20 times. We passed the ball behind the player, down the ground. Just didn’t get it to hand.”

It is not all doom and gloom for Kerry however as O’Neill feels this bunch will come back fighting.

“We are in the All Ireland series now and in the same side of the draw as Cork so we may meet again. We will go back now and look at what went wrong and try to fix it. These girls are very talented and committed and will do what is needed.”