TADHG MORLEY SAYS Kerry have hit the reset button again and are hoping it will have the same effect as it did last summer.

The Kingdom suffered a surprise mid-June loss to Meath during last year’s championship but won their next four games and regained the Sam Maguire Cup.

Defender Morley says it feels like a similar approach now after a heavy All-Ireland SFC Round 1 loss to Donegal.

A kind Round 2B draw has paired the Munster champions off with Kildare, in Newbridge, on Saturday or Sunday week.

It will pit Kerry manager Jack O’Connor against the county that he managed for two seasons across 2020 and 2021.

“After the Meath game last year, we kind of hit a real reset button after that, and we kind of hit a momentum patch from there on,” said Morley.

“The Kerry supporters really travelled with us and travelled in numbers to Croke Park and that really helped. So this year, it’s the same really, it’s a reset after the Donegal game, it’s pure knockout now, no second chances. So we’re just looking to get a performance above in Newbridge and to try to hit that momentum trail again if we can.”

National League finalists Kerry are strong favourites to bounce back with a big win over the Tailteann Cup holders.

Kildare will try to turn Cedral St Conleth’s Park into a cauldron though it’ll hardly be as tense an occasion as the recent Donegal game.

“I don’t know if I have been at a game in Fitzgerald Stadium where the actual Kerry crowd were so invested in the game,” said Morley. “Between the Kerry supporters and the Donegal supporters it was even getting tense, do you know what I mean? It was getting spicy that way, as it was on the field.”

Tensions boiled over at half-time with Kerry’s Micheál Burns receiving a red card for striking Donegal’s Ryan McHugh. Attacker Burns is currently suspended for the Kildare game while Gavin White, Shane Ryan, Tom O’Sullivan and Seán O’Shea all missed the game with injuries. Joe O’Connor was only fit to come on.

“Sometimes when you lose a game, you want to play a game straight away after,” said Morley. “But probably in our scenario, with a few injuries, the three weeks was great.”

During that break between games, Morley’s wife, Ciara, from Kinnegad in Westmeath, celebrated her county winning the Leinster SFC title. The pair made it to Croke Park for the game. They had the five o’clock train booked to get home and just about made it after the game went to extra time.

“The hooter went off, Ciara was crying and the whole lot, and we just kind of got out of there, a speedy enough walk,” he said. “Ciara was pregnant so we were careful enough, we weren’t sprinting down O’Connell Street. We found a taxi, got down to Heuston about a quarter to five, so it wasn’t too bad.”

Morley’s cousin, Brian, played for Westmeath in their previous Leinster final win in 2004. All of which has got him fired up for the remainder of Kerry’s campaign.

“We were relatively happy with the first half against Donegal and then obviously the red card and all of that kind of made a balls of the second half,” said Morley. “But getting the three-week block has been ideal, just to get the injuries cleared up, bodies back, train hard and get a good run at it again.”