THE ALL-IRELAND kingpins were taken down on home soil today, the county’s first championship defeat there since 1995, and Kerry manager Jack O’Connor branded the result ‘a big wake-up call’ as they lost to Mayo by five points.
After cruising to another Munster title, this was a jarring experience for Kerry as they moved into the national arena.
They trailed by five at the interval and that was the separating margin by the final whistle, with O’Connor believing there were several unsatisfactory facets to their display.
“Ah look this was a big step up. We played a Division 3 team (Tipperary) and then a Division 2 team (Clare). One who’s gone to four another who’s been relegated to three, so this was a big step up in class today.
“It’s a big wake up call for us. Obviously Mayo were able to go away and work for six weeks. But no excuses really, We’d still be disappointed with the way we played.
“We just seemed to get no momentum. Mayo’s long kick-outs gave us trouble, particularly in the first half. Every time they won a long kick out they appeared be in on us. Even when we tried to press the kick-out, they won the long kick-out so that is something we obviously have to revisit.
“We have to look at the way we set up tactically as well, we obviously conceded too much and it appeared as if we did not put enough heat on their middle third of the pitch to slow them down. They are a very athletic team and I thought we hung out our full-back line a bit. We have to take as much responsibility as the players because we obviously did not get it right either.
“I know we had two or three goal chances in the second half that could have gone in but they had as many goal chances and maybe more clear cut. Obviously there is something there that we are not blocking out those chances.”
Kerry’s use of possession proved costly.
“It’s like we were nervy or something, I’m not sure what the reason was. We gave away some awful stupid turnovers. And they’re a killer against a running team like Mayo. Look, it turned too much into a basketball game, which wasn’t what we intended. What I mean by that is that it was up and down the field.
“That’s not the way we intend to play and that came about by us, particularly early in the game, giving the ball away cheaply and then not being in position to defend properly on the counter attack. You look lacklustre then when you give the ball away because it demoralises you.”
Kerry must now try to rebound in a fortnight when they travel to face Cork.
“We’ll see what kind of reaction we have in two weeks,” said O’Connor.
“I’ve said it consistently that Cork will be very hard beaten up in Páirc Ui Chaoimh. They’re not as bad as they were against Clare. They’ll have a stronger team, the likes of Hurley (back). So we’re expecting a big test but we will need to get our own house in order and we’ll need to improve. If today will prove to be a chance to get our feet back on the ground, it will be worthwhile.
“Obviously we’re not as good as people thought we were after the Clare game. But the big thing for us is we need to learn from today. I’ve been involved with Kerry teams before that’s been beaten by more than this and came back and finished the year successfully. I was involved when we were beaten by Cork by eight points up in Pairc Ui Chaoimh and came back and won the All-Ireland after. We need to learn from this. We need to use this experience to pick our team the way we need to pick it and maybe set up different tactically.”