Defiant display pleases Jack O'Connor

"Look, one of the great motivators in life is trying to prove people wrong," Kerry manager Jack O'Connor reflected following a comprehensive All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final victory over Armagh at Croke Park.

It was a stirring win for a pumped up Kerry outfit. "We were being portrayed as a one-man team," O'Connor added.

"I saw somebody writing this morning that said the only Kerry player worthy of being called a Kerry player was David Clifford.

"Now, David is a great player, but David will tell you that there was a fair supporting cast there today.

"We think we have a lot of good footballers, but I think sometimes we're being judged on different criteria to other teams. For example, Dublin got beaten by Meath in the Leinster Championship and I didn't see any ex-Dublin players coming out slating the team or slating the management like we had down south in our county.

"There's a sense of commitment to the team and a sense of loyalty to the team. Unfortunately a few pundits down our way let themselves down in that regard."

Eager to deliver at GAA headquarters, O'Connor provided an interesting response when asked was it similar to 2006? "I thought it was a bit more like 2009, to be honest," O'Connor remarked.

"I don't think too many people outside the camp saw that performance there. But we were very, very determined.

"There was ferocious determination in the camp that we weren't going to let the season fizzle out after the Meath game.

"It may have been difficult for Armagh not to listen to the outside noise where we were being written off and they were being written up. We know we have players who can perform here."

O'Connor praised several players, who produced in style for the Kingdom. "The game Seán O'Shea had there, when that was a game in the first half and halfway through the second half, that man put in some display," O'Connor added.

"I don't know what he finished up with. But him and David, David was really good again. Paudie (Clifford) coming in at half-time, he's a high-calibre player and it just gave everybody a lift.

"Once he got the ball in his hands, you knew he was going to do something with it. It's funny the way things happen. But we were fairly sure leaving the hotel this morning that we were going to give this a real rattle.

"We just need to steady up now and get our feet back on the ground. It's a big performance and a big Kerry support came up and backed the team, which is great. We love seeing that because a lot of people had us written off during the week.

"Obviously, the supporters felt there was another kick in the team. They've seen it happen before. They saw it happen in 2006, they saw it happen in 2009.

"Kerry is a proud county and we weren't going to fizzle out of the Championship without a hell of a fight. We saw that fight out there today."