By Johnny Buckley

Kerry football captain Johnny Buckley says the Kingdom will have to improve dramatically on their quarter-final performance against Galway if they’re to beat Mayo in Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC Semi-Final.

Kerry defeated Galway by a comfortable eight-point margin in that game, but it was far from a five-star display.

They coughed up a number of clear-cut goal chances that Galway were unable to take, and at the other end of the field their own finishing was hit and miss.

“I suppose looking back on it there's a load of aspects,” admits Buckley. “There were periods in the game where we just didn't score enough.

“We had the possession and just getting that transition up to the scorers and being able to capitalise in the periods when we were on top is definitely something we're going to work on.

“I suppose it's well documented, but (Galway) having those goal-scoring chances. In fairness to Brian he made some great saves, but looking back on that it's definitely something we need to tidy up on.

“Just on the day it wasn't a performance that we were happy with, we didn't play with the intensity or put in the performance we were hoping to put in or had trained to put in.

“So looking back on it, again, it's hard to pin-point exactly why, but just knowing that the next day a performance won't do against Mayo.”

Buckley’s own performance was one of the biggest positives for Kerry on the day.

It was his first match of the year, but he looked like he’d never been away as he scored two points from centre-forward, won a lot of ball, and used it wisely.

It was a relief for him to pull on the Kerry jersey again having missed all of the season until now due to a combination of Dr. Croke’s All-Ireland winning club campaign and a troublesome knee injury that also ruled him out of the 2016 campaign.

“I suppose we sat down at the start of the year after the semi-final win with Crokes and looked at a plan.

“At the time we felt the body wasn’t right, I was struggling with my knee and knowing going straight back in with Kerry wasn’t a wise decision.

“I know Fionn (Fitzgerald) went back in and played great stuff, but it was a just a decision we made at the time.

“The footballing instinct inside you says ‘go back playing straight away,’ but I must say Colm Fuller who is working with us, he’s a club-mate of mine and he said ‘this is the right thing to do, and stick with it."

“Colm and the medical team and put a programme in place for a six-week block to try to get the body right in preparation for championship training and thankfully that's worked out okay.”

He knew he was making the right decision by taking some time out to let his body heal, but it was still difficult to watch from a distance when Kerry beat Dublin in the Allianz Football League Final.

“It was a bit surreal, I was just watching the game at home with herself and I turned into a Kerry supporter for the day,” says Buckley.

“I was shouting at the TV no more than anyone else at the end of the game.

“Being with Crokes and being not directly involved as well, I wasn’t involved for the league and that was simply it.

“I was just going to try whatever I needed to do to try and get back involved for the championship.”

Before the year is out he might have the opportunity to lift the Sam Maguire Cup himself, but there’s a lot of football to be played first.

Buckley is expecting a battle-hardened Mayo to present a formidable challenge on Sunday, but Kerry are choosing to focus on their own game rather than worry too much about the opposition.

“We're very much talking about our own tactics, talking about where we can improve, focusing on training and in getting our side of stuff right,” says Buckley.

“For us it's just to get things as right as we can for what we know will be a huge battle.

“We saw what they brought the last day, they had a serious performance against a Roscommon team that showed themselves to be a very good side in the previous game.

“Look, we know what they're going to bring. We're just going to try to get as right as we can for it.”

---