Relieved Kerry freed from threat of barren decade

If the perception at Croke Park on Sunday was that Maurice Fitzgerald's points were flighted higher than usual over the bar, there could be a simple explanation - the Kerry squad had its final preparation for Sunday's final in the grounds of Blackrock College and rugby crossbars, as most people know, are a couple of feet higher than the Gaelic football bar.

"They were the best nine points I have ever scored," said Fitzgerald.

The Kerry team and management stayed at a seafront hotel adjacent to the grounds of Ireland's rugby nursery on Saturday night and the facilities at 'Rock were provided.

"It wasn't a real training session, just a warm-up in tracksuits," explained Kerry selector Seamus MacGearailt.

MacGearailt said that winning the All-Ireland meant that "not only was the monkey off our backs, but a bag of spuds had gone too. "At the team dinner last night, it was more of a sense of relief than of jubilation. We feared that we could go though the decade without winning an All-Ireland, which, of course, would be unique in the history of Kerry football," said MacGearailt.

According to MacGearailt, one of the major strengths of this Kerry team is that different players play well on different days.

He admitted: "We got a flutter in the dug-out, not so much when McDonald hit the net with the penalty, but when Mayo added two points."

In response to the view that Kerry were notably sagging in the last quarter, MacGearailt retorted: "Tell me a team that does not sag in a final. No team dominates for 70 minutes."

He thinks that good-quality All-Ireland finals will be few and far between in the future because the pressures on the players are too great.

Commenting on the quality of play in the final, association president Joe McDonagh said: "There had been a strong element of expectation after seeing so many fine games this year. In many ways, the final was disappointing, the teams had a lot to lose and were perhaps tentative in their approach.

"My heart goes out to Mayo," said McDonagh, who added to his growing reputation as the singing president by giving a rendering of The West's Awake at yesterday's lunch for the four finalists.

Kerry left corner back Stephen Stack, the only link with the 1986 winning team, could hardly conceal his joy as he enthused over Sunday's win. "It was nicer this time, winning with lads I grew up with," he said. "I was only a pup among men back in '86."

Stack had not figured in the League campaign because of a shoulder injury. In fact, he had not played for Kerry between last year's semi-final and this year's.

Billy O'Shea, who sustained a compound fracture above an ankle, travelled home to Tralee by plane last evening.

Paidi O Se's idea of the turning point in Sunday's match was when replacement Mayo place kicker Kieran McDonald failed to lift the ball when taking a close free at the canal end in the second half.

Twelve of the Kerry team will be in action in Sunday's County football semi-finals in Killarney. The largest "gate" ever for a county semi-finals is expected when Laune Rangers take on West Kerry, while East Kerry play Austin Stacks.

The Rest of Ireland team to play All-Ireland champions Kerry in the GOAL Challenge match in Tralee on Saturday includes four Mayo players, Peter Burke, Ken Mortimer, James Nallen and Pat Holmes. The remainder of the squad will be attending team-mate Pat Fallon's wedding on the same day.