Kerry manager Jack O’Connor has lamented a first half fall-off after his side were dethroned by Mayo in Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC final, but admitted the better team took the honours on a spectacular Sunday.
The Kingdom raced into an early lead after David Clifford found the back of the net, leading by seven points at one stage, before their rivals mounted an impressive comeback on route to a landmark victory.
Speaking to RTÉ’s The Sunday Game after full-time, O’Connor was quick to point to that early momentum swing as one of the reasons for the defeat.
“We started well but I think we were 1-05 to one point up and just got a bit careless then,” O’Connor said.
“I think the next four attacks, we had a couple of bad wides and we dropped one short.
“That just gave Mayo (belief) and Ryan O’Donoghue went down and kicked a two-pointer, which gave them a bit of belief.
“So suddenly they were back in the game, (Jack) Carney kicked a two-pointer.
“Mayo stayed with us until half-time, their belief grew and I thought in the second half they were better than us.”
Kerry entered the final as overwhelming favourites, having won Sam Maguire a year prior. However for O’Connor, his wait to deliver back-to-back successes for the Kingdom continues, as does their wait for a 40th All-Ireland.
Mayo’s defensive effort was key according to O’Connor
Having seen it all before in his time in management, O’Connor was effusive in his praise for the Connacht county adding: “We fought hard, but on the day, I think Mayo had more energy and were just a bit more hungrier than us.”
Kerry held a narrow lead at the break, but were ultimately undone by a spirited Mayo outfit who never looked back after Darragh Beirne blasted a shot past Shane Murphy and into the back of the Kerry net.
The vigour started in their defensive effort O’Connor felt.
“I didn’t think we were dealing with the high press very well”, he said.
“We just needed to give the lads a bit of an outlet and we weren’t doing that. We were letting the fellas hang out to dry a little bit.
“So we spoke about that at half-time. We spoke about staying in the game, getting it down the stretch. And to be fair, we did that.
“Mayo went five up, we dragged it back. David (Clifford) kicked a great two-pointer to get us within a score. But it was just one or two passes then went astray.
“And you know yourself when you’re looking at the clock, you’re forcing it a little bit. But you can’t fault our boys.”