Sheehy: once we believed in ourselves we were fine

ALTHOUGH Kerry recorded a comprehensive victory in the finish, they did have a very nervy first half to the game. Kerry manager Eddie Sheehy reckoned that the occasion may have affected his players early on.

“We didn’t start as well as we would have liked to, I think that the occasion got to us a small bit, the big crowd, the heat, but once we started to believe in ourselves and that we could actually play we were fine. Going forward we were strong, defensively as well, Sarah Murphy was outstanding, attacking the ball each time. Our half back line with Dessie (Aislinn Desmond) and Aishling (O’Connell), they were cutting out all the balls coming down there, then you had Lorraine and Amanda at midfield, Lorraine was winning some superb ball. The half forward line worked so hard, they made sure nothing came out easy and gave Waterford no chance to find their own players too easily.”

The Kerry half forward line played very deeply in the first half and it led to a loss of cohesion between defence and attack. Sheehy (pictured) admitted that they knew that they needed to change this strategy for the second period.

“We rectified that at half time. Again, it’s going back to the occasion of it – there was a huge crowd outside in the stand and on the terrace both at half time and at the end of the game. Once we came out in the second half and settled we used the ball well and we took our chances then. We got the first three scores after half time and that gave us the belief in ourselves and we carried it forward after that.”

Kerry will defend their title against Cork in the Munster final on June 23 and Sheehy said his side will be ready for the challenge.

“Our main focus was on Waterford and we didn’t look any further than that. Cork had a good win even though Tipperary performed well against them. We will look into it and be ready for them.”