‘I couldn’t ask for anymore from the lads’

IF there was any disappointment for him at the nature of East Kerry’s loss to Kerins O’Rahillys in the County Championship the previous week, it evaporated pretty quickly for Jerry O’Sullivan with the nature of Firies win last Saturday in Castleisland.

“I couldn’t ask for anymore from the lads in terms of performance, they really wanted it out there today. We wanted to dictate the game and play it our terms which we did very well.

“We say at half-time that Na Gaeil would be likely to hit a purple patch and how we responded to it would be crucial in determining the winner and the character came through in the team particularly after the black cards,” the Firies manager said.

He felt aggrieved at the awarding of same to Jack Sherwood and Shane O’Donoghue.

“I don’t like criticising referees because it is a difficult enough job to do but for me the black card is ridiculous because a lot of the things that they are issued for should really be just yellow cards. It’s something that I think needs to be got rid of,” O’Sullivan said when asked about the black cards.

Na Gaeil manager was left to rue defeat afterwards as the reward of Division 2 football for the club next year feels like scant consolation for the club at this point in time.

“Firies got an ideal start and it felt like we were waiting for the black cards to work in our favour as opposed to making them a factor.

“They showed great hunger and their big players in their Kerry minors and Colm O’Shea produced the goods for them today with the two second-half goals probably the killer for us.

“We haven’t lost too much in recent years, but when we have done we have learnt from them and I hope we can do something similar next year because there is a group here good enough to win it if they keep at it.”