‘The players are all mature and sensible. They have to enjoy it’ says O’Malley

team took great satisfaction in getting right even if their opening games against Ballylooby / Castlegrace of Tipperary and Michael Cusacks of Clare were non-events as actual contests.

“Our first two games in Munster were, in hindsight, a bit pointless, so we were worried coming into the Munster Final that we could be caught cold. Again, we were able to react when Dromtariffe threw the kitchen sink at us. We have had two hard games now so we are hoping that they will stand to us,” he said.

When it came to the recent All-Ireland semi-final with Dundalk Young Irelands in Portlaoise, O’Malley compared another tough encounter to a match in Kerry where they had been expected to win comfortably by those on the outside.

“It was very tough, but probably the best way to win a semi-final is to have been a bit below par and still get there. The game against Dundalk reminded me a bit about the semi-final against Churchill where we were given a massive fright.

“Dundalk were very fit, very strong, very athletic. You tailor your game-plan to suit, especially outside Kerry. Within the county, most Kerry teams have a similar style, we met no team with 13 behind the ball in Kerry. Against Dundalk we had to change,” O’Malley felt.

Although not in Division 1 now for 2019, O’Malley agreed that the experience was always going to stand to them when it came to championship level.

The hype and sense of occasion with a trip to Croke Park is

something

The fact that we had such great teams in the past, there would be a longing for those days back again