ON A DAY of wild Mayo celebration, the football flipside fell to Kerry.
The reigning champions dethroned, the pursuit of back-to-back All-Ireland wins goes on.
Jack O’Connor knows the moments of celebration in Croke Park as the curtain falls on a football season. A different scenario faced him on this Sunday afternoon.
“It’s very disappointing. 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, even though we fought to the end and could have snatched maybe a draw and taken it to extra-time. One or two passes went astray there near the end. I just thought that on balance, Mayo were better than us on the day.
“I felt we started well. I just thought there were a couple of bad shot selections then. We shelled a little bit then for maybe a five-minute period. I think we had four attacks where we didn’t register a score and I thought that was significant. It just kept Mayo within touching distance.
“Obviously they kicked a couple of two-pointers then from out on the right-hand side towards the Hill, which was the sweet spot. That just got them back in the game. While 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.”
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Kerry boss Jack O'Connor. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Despite Kerry’s electric start to the game, Mayo overhauled them. The ferocious pressure applied by Mayo to Kerry players in possession grew more evident as the opening half unfolded.
“Well, we knew that was coming,” stated O’Connor.
“We didn’t have a whole pile of time to prepare for that type of stuff because we basically had maybe two, two and a half sessions to prepare for it. They brought that and more. In general, I just thought they had more energy than us.”
Why did Mayo have the greater energy source fuelling their challenge?
“Sure, that’s the 50 million dollar question,” said O’Connor.
“I just thought on breaking ball and stuff that it showed at times. It possibly goes back to some of the stuff I was talking about in the last few weeks, that we’ve had men that have had long periods out of football this year.
“Gavin White was out of football for six months. Seánie (O’Shea) was out of football for ten weeks. Joe, eight weeks. Brian Ó Beaglaioch had a stop-start kind of a season. Paudie Clifford, the same – he missed a good chunk of the league. On All-Ireland final day, coming up against a hungry, energetic Mayo team, I feel myself that was a factor.”
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Kerry's Paudie Clifford and Mayo's Enda Hession. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Kerry’s injury problems continued before the final with the loss of Diarmuid O’Connor and Tony Brosnan.
“Diarmuid was obviously a loss. He was a big part of our game-plan on kick-outs and stuff like that, with his size out in the 12 pocket. But that’s why we have a panel. We had to deal with it. It upset us a bit, to be frank about it. But not making excuses now.”
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Jack O'Connor: 'You have to take your hat off to Mayo, they had more energy than us'
ON A DAY of wild Mayo celebration, the football flipside fell to Kerry.
The reigning champions dethroned, the pursuit of back-to-back All-Ireland wins goes on.
Jack O’Connor knows the moments of celebration in Croke Park as the curtain falls on a football season. A different scenario faced him on this Sunday afternoon.
“It’s very disappointing. 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, even though we fought to the end and could have snatched maybe a draw and taken it to extra-time. One or two passes went astray there near the end. I just thought that on balance, Mayo were better than us on the day.
“I felt we started well. I just thought there were a couple of bad shot selections then. We shelled a little bit then for maybe a five-minute period. I think we had four attacks where we didn’t register a score and I thought that was significant. It just kept Mayo within touching distance.
“Obviously they kicked a couple of two-pointers then from out on the right-hand side towards the Hill, which was the sweet spot. That just got them back in the game. While 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.”
Despite Kerry’s electric start to the game, Mayo overhauled them. The ferocious pressure applied by Mayo to Kerry players in possession grew more evident as the opening half unfolded.
“Well, we knew that was coming,” stated O’Connor.
“We didn’t have a whole pile of time to prepare for that type of stuff because we basically had maybe two, two and a half sessions to prepare for it. They brought that and more. In general, I just thought they had more energy than us.”
Why did Mayo have the greater energy source fuelling their challenge?
“Sure, that’s the 50 million dollar question,” said O’Connor.
“I just thought on breaking ball and stuff that it showed at times. It possibly goes back to some of the stuff I was talking about in the last few weeks, that we’ve had men that have had long periods out of football this year.
“Gavin White was out of football for six months. Seánie (O’Shea) was out of football for ten weeks. Joe, eight weeks. Brian Ó Beaglaioch had a stop-start kind of a season. Paudie Clifford, the same – he missed a good chunk of the league. On All-Ireland final day, coming up against a hungry, energetic Mayo team, I feel myself that was a factor.”
Kerry’s injury problems continued before the final with the loss of Diarmuid O’Connor and Tony Brosnan.
“Diarmuid was obviously a loss. He was a big part of our game-plan on kick-outs and stuff like that, with his size out in the 12 pocket. But that’s why we have a panel. We had to deal with it. It upset us a bit, to be frank about it. But not making excuses now.”
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