Goggin frustrated that Kerry didn’t play to their potential
KERRY manager Stephen Goggin cut a frustrated figure following his sides All-Ireland final defeat to Dublin, with Goggin gutted that his side failed to really test Dublin throughout the game.
“Absolutely gutted, of course, to lose an All-Ireland final but I suppose look it kind of got the better of us today. We didn’t perform, that’s not the way we can play camogie at all.”
Kerry had a decent start to the game before slipping away in the second period of the opening half and Goggin rued the concession of a goal midway through the first half.
“We started the game relatively good I think. One point each after the first 15 minutes like and we were kind of saying to start good so we’re not out of the game after a few minutes and we seemed to start okay and as the half went on, I can’t put my finger on it at the moment but the first half we were delighted with our start. We were very happy on the side-line myself and Gary were talking about it, after 15 minutes we were a point down or something so we were delighted with it and the goal came then and it just kind of really upset things for us.”
Kerry looked solid in defence throughout, but the forwards struggled to perform and Goggin stated how the Kerry attack are very young compared to the defence.
“Yeah, I suppose our forwards return today was poor. Our forwards are young. Looking back at your backs there you have Michelle and Liz like who are experienced campaigners and Niamh there in the middle and Sarah. You’ve four really experienced girls that will help out the backs while the forwards, Jackie’s to be fair is only still 19 and she’s captain. Caoimhe Shanahan just after turning 18, Jessica’s 19, Norette Casey just after turning 19 so they’re all relatively young I suppose. They’ll learn from it and I’ve no doubt in my mind they’ll get their hands on that cup one day because the more times they play in these big games the more experience they’ll get.”
Kerry could not get anywhere near creating a goal chances during the duration of the match and Goggins admitted they would have needed to score goals to really threated Dublin.
“Yeah, I suppose we had kind of said coming up we needed to get a goal or two to get over the line and unfortunately we never looked like creating a chance but to be fair to Dublin now their defence was good. They were always getting in a block or a hook or something like that. Look just one of those things I suppose. We just have to go through it and see what we can improve.”
Kerry will operate in Division two in the national league in 2019, which will be of massive benefit to Kerry camogie, with Division two a massive step up from Division three.
“It’s all about playing matches. The more matches they play at the higher level the better they will get. Playing teams that you’re winning by 12 or 13 points and even getting a bag of scores is not good. You’re learning nothing from it and the girls are not learning. You could see Dublin were playing at a higher level. Their intensity was very good today and that’s the level we’re trying to get up to so hopefully playing Division two next year will stand in good stead to the championship.”
Goggin believes it has been a fantastic year for Kerry camogie, with the Kingdom making massive strides, as a league title has been picked up, with Kerry also competing in provincial and national finals in Championship.
“Great year for Kerry camogie I suppose. National league champions, Munster Final and All-Ireland final. If you said that at the start of the year we would have taken you’re hand off. We can be relatively happy tonight with what we’ve achieved this year I suppose. It’s always going to be a downer after an All-Ireland final. We’ll get our heads up again and we’ll drive on again.”
Goggin had not even considered his future with Kerry camogie, preferring to take a break over the next couple of weeks before making a decision.
“I haven’t decided anything. I’ll just take a couple of weeks off and sit down with my wife. That’s something down the line that we’ll talk about.”