Jack’s boys bow out at semi-final stage again

DISAPPOINTMENT, obviously, for the Kerry team manager Jack O Connor after a contest that he felt was decided, in part, by the scoring opportunities not capitalised upon by Kerry, and the goal that was in some respects gifted to Kildare.

“Very disappointed, we are awful disappointed to be honest with you,” O’Connor said in the wake of a one-point loss that slightly flattered Kerry on the scoreboard. “We felt that we would come back strong in the second half because there was a good breeze there. I thought we might have the legs on Kildare late on but the Kildare goal put the kibosh on us really, and it was such a soft goal as well. Plus we missed three or four scoreable frees in the second half that normally we would get. So against a good side like Kildare that’s too much.

“They are a big physical team, this was always going to be a tough game. They had a good big win over Dublin last weekend so we knew it was always going to be awful tough. I just think we shot ourselves in the foot a bit with the goal, and the few frees that we needed to put over.”

With Kerry trailing by just a point at the interval O’Connor said there was no great cause for alarm at that stage.

“Look, there wasn’t a whole lot to say (at half time). Their goalie had a good kick out, and they had big men in the middle of the field. We still won five out of their eleven kick outs in the first half so we weren’t doing a whole lot wrong. We got it back to a point, and even that last kick out that went over the sideline for some reason the referee decided he would give a free, even though the ball was gone ten yards over the sideline. But look, having said that we missed too much, we needed to chip away, just I suppose to give us a bit of heart.

“I can’t but praise our fellows, we died with our boots on. We were going very strong at the end but as I said the six points was just too much to claw back. Look, Kildare are a good side, there was a point in it at the end, we gave away a soft goal, and missed three, four scoreable frees, I think that’s the story of the game.”

As one might expect the Kildare manager Davy Burke was particularly upbeat about his side’s success. His reaction confirmed that this was a really special win for both himself and the team.

“We done a good bit of work mid-week. I’ve learned as a manager as well through my failings years ago that we had a very good kick-out performance last week, and I knew Jack O’Connor would analyse that and do a job around the middle, so we had to mix it up a bit. We had (goalkeeper) Aaron (O’Neill) working on it hard all this week to get different players on the ball, and I think it worked well.

“They never left us down to date, they turn up every single day, I was just over the moon for the bunch of lads at full time. These lads were hurting, these lads are top players, they were embarrassed two years ago (All-Ireland Minor semi-final). Let’s call a spade a spade, they lost by twenty-two points, and they are too good as players to be beaten by that. That was in the back of my mind all week. They were hurt, and they came out and played like a team that was hurt.

“We didn’t say much at half time, just clean up the tackling, keep driving and going forward, we knew we had the legs to come in. Dublin last week, Kerry this week, we are happy enough. Over the next two, three weeks we will do our homework every night, and we will be ready (for the All-Ireland final against

Mayo).”