Kevin O’Brien reports from Croke Park
FOR THE SECOND successive year, Kerry’s championship comes to an end at the All-Ireland semi-final stage.
Unlike last year’s thrilling encounter with Dublin, Kerry didn’t die with their boots on this afternoon.
They looked way off the pace against Mayo and Eamonn Fitzmaurice conceded that the Connacht outfit were the “hungrier” side.
“Mayo were better, Mayo were hungrier and they just performed better than us,” he stated.
“They’ve been outstanding. We didn’t need the last two games to confirm they’re a serious outfit. They’ve been so close every year going back to 2012. We knew we were going to have to be on top of our game today to win and we weren’t.
“It’s no real surprise they beat us. They’re a great bunch, serious resilience and they’re no mean footballers either.”
Mayo lost All-Ireland finals in 2012, 2013 and 2016, but they’ve made it back to the decider for another crack at Sam Maguire. Fitzmaurice praised their ability to recover from the various setbacks they’ve encountered over the years.
“In fairness they’ve a ferocious appetite because of the disappointments they’ve had over the years and how close they were,” he continued.
“We’ve had similar disappointments, last year in particular in the semi-final. When you’re going back so long since they’ve won and they’ve been so close, they edged us in that stakes.
“That’s not something you can predict or plan for. That’s just there on the day and I think it was evident today.”
Fitzmaurice attempted to shore up the oceans of space in front of the Mayo full-forward line by withdrawing Paul Murphy as a sweeper. The move meant 2014 Footballer of the Year James O’Donoghue had to be content with a place on the bench.
The Finuge man acknowledged the move didn’t work out as planned.
“I stand over what we did 100%. What we were trying to do didn’t work today but that’s the beauty of management, we don’t have the benefit of hindsight.
“I don’t think it worked as well as we’d have hoped. But I think you’d have to give great credit to Mayo for that. They were just operating at a slightly higher level. The kick-outs in the first half were a big factor. They got on top of our kick-out, they won all their own kick-outs so they had a lot of possession. We were playing catch-up so absolutely.
“Any day you lose a game there’s aspects that are going to malfunction and not go according to plan. I’m sure people will be wondering what the hell we were trying to do. The days it goes well you end up winning the game and it looks like you’re a genius.”
