The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Ladies mauled by Monaghan as All-Ireland dream dies
AFTER the game a despondent Kerry ladies manager Alan O’Neill was at a loss to explain his team’s defeat .
“The first 15 to 20 minutes we were totally in charge, we were winning their kickouts, we were cutting them open, creating chances, but at this level if you create three goal chances you have to take them, it came back to haunt us in the second half.
“We took our foot off the gas with 10 minutes left in the first half and went in at half-time four points down having bossed most of the half. At this level if you get ahead of teams you need to stay there,” he continued.
It was put to O’Neill that Kerry needed a good start to the second half.
“The reaction needed to come from us directly after half time, and it didn’t,” he said.
“We had a good 10 minute spell but it wasn’t enough. Training had gone well, our game plan was right, the strategy was right, early in the first half we were getting through for scores but for some reason we veered off the game plan. “We started kicking the ball instead of hand passing it and turned it into 50/50 stuff, a few early second half scores and we might have been back in it but it wasn’t to be today.” It’s O’Neill’s fourth year involved with the Kerry ladies having served two years as physical trainer with William O’Sullivan, and the last two years as manager. He felt that the time was now right for him to step down. “It’s time for me to move on I think, some girls may retire as well, I’m not too sure, it’s a big job, a lot of time involved. Today was disappointing but I’ve had some great days with this team. I wish whoever comes in next the very best of luck,” he concluded. Understandably Monaghan manager Paula Cunningham was delighted with the win. “We felt we underperformed in the Ulster final, but we had a lot of time to prepare for this game. We got some club football in for the girls, they had a lot of games and hard competitive football definitely improved our sharpness,” she said. “We targeted some key Kerry girls in our match ups today , for the most part it worked well, we also had a little bit of luck which you always need. We will certainly need the same intensity against Cork in the semi final.”