Rooney: Kilmaine were every bit as good as us. They were certainly at our level

WHEN Eoin Walsh punched Na Gaeil into a two-point lead as the second half moved into the second minute of additional time, manager Donal Rooney must have finally felt that his men had eventually subdued the almost manic challenge of Saturday’s Mayo opponents.

A few minutes later, as extrabeckoned following a hugely controversial refereeing decision that gave Kilmaine an equalising lifeline, the Tralee side’s bainisteoir must have been absolutely livid. It all turned out alright in the end, however, and such a titanic battle can only be character-building for Rooney and his team.

“We talked beforehand about controlling the controllables and we mentioned the referees, saying that we cannot control them, and we certainly didn’t do that today! These things happen though and it certainly does make it all the sweeter,” said Rooney.

“I’ve had one or two interviews with people saying that Kerry clubs are too strong for this competition. But look at that game today. They were every bit as good as us. They are a fantastic outfit with great individuals. And I’d like to commend them for a great game. They were certainly at our level.”

The Na Gaeil boss readily admitted that the contest was played with unbelievable intensity from start to finish and that the blanket defence utilised by their opponents was something that his charges just had to deal with.

“There was huge intensity out there. To be fair to the referee, he did let that happen. He let the physical challenges go and it really added to the spectacle. Even though it didn’t help the sideline too much!

“There’s very little of the blanket defence in Division One in Kerry. Maybe down the divisions, we would have come across it a bit more. I thought that we coped with it reasonably well.

“I think in the first half, we only had six or seven shots, they had five, they got 1-3 from them, including 1-1 from turnovers. They weren’t attacking us that much, but when they did manage to turn us over, they were prolific with their shooting. And that was the case throughout, until that last ten minutes of extra-time.”

Was it hard to recover though from that refereeing decision at the end of normal time?

“Not necessarily. Last year, we drew the county final and I suppose that bit of experience stood to us today. There was no panic. The first thing was to set out the fifteen that we were going to start again, and work it out from there.

“You just have to turn it into a new game basically. There is no point looking back over a decision that could have went your way or not,” stressed Rooney.

Another thing that didn’t go Na Gaeil’s way was having to line out at the start without their massively influential Kerry midfielder, Jack Barry. Introduced in the 48th minute, it was clear that Barry was hampered by injury but, like his teammates, he strove on manfully until the very end of extra-time.

“Jack strained ligaments in the ankle three weeks ago. The three-week turnaround on strained ligaments made it touch and go and 50/50 for today. He got his scan, that showed that there was no tear, so we were happy enough to do that.

“Ideally, we would have loved to give him a few more weeks, but these games don’t come around too often. I think we done the right thing overall with Jack and things worked out in the end.”

It wasn’t such a happy conclusion for another of the Barry brothers, however, with wing-back Fergal having to be carried off in the 25th minute and, even at this early juncture, he looks very unlikely to feature in the All-Ireland decider on Saturday week against Rathgarogue/Cushinstown of Wexford.

“Fergal did the cruciate on that knee about 20 months ago. I really hope that it’s not the same again. He doesn’t think it is, but it’s too early to know at this stage,” added Rooney.

Croke Park now awaits for Na Gaeil on January 25, and it will be a case of getting the walking wounded recovered and recuperated as quickly as possible.

“We’ve got a bit of a plan in place already. There’s such a short turnaround that you have to know what you will be doing. You saw bodies out there, going down left, right and centre, all over the place. We’ll get them out tomorrow morning, try and get them recovered and see where we are at come training on Tuesday night.”