Jack O'Connor praises champions Mayo
Kerry senior football team manager Jack O'Connor. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
By Cian O'Connell
Kerry manager Jack O'Connor praised Mayo's energetic approach in the All-Ireland SFC Final at Croke Park.
Mayo triumphed on this stage for the first time since 1951 and O'Connor acknowledged Mayo's drive and dynamism following the game. "Obviously, it wasn't the ending we envisaged after a tough enough year, but you have to take your hat off to Mayo - I thought they had more energy than us, more legs, more hunger," O'Connor remarked.
"Even though we fought to the end and could have snatched a draw and taken it to extra time, one or two passes went astray there in the end. I just thought on balance, Mayo were better than us on the day."
Kerry were forced to start without Diarmuid O'Connor, who was sorely missed according to the Kerry boss. "Diarmuid was a big part of our game plan on kick-outs and stuff like that with his size, his size out on the 12 pocket, but that's why we have a panel," the Kerry boss reflected.
"We had to deal with it and it upset us a bit, but [I'm] not making excuses.
"I felt we started well, went up seven and I just thought we took a few bad shot selections. I think we had four attacks where we didn't register a score and that was significant, just kept Mayo within touching distance."
Jack Carney and Ryan O'Donoghue landed critical scores from distance for Mayo in the opening period. "They kicked a couple of two-pointers then from out on the right-hand side towards the Hill, which was the sweet spot and that just got them back in the game," O'Connor added.
"We responded well just before half-time to get that score and go in a point up. It just gave Mayo the belief that they were within touching distance and that was enough."
