Killarney

Adam Moynihan was at the Gleneagle Hotel as manager Jack O’Connor, selectors Mike Quirke and Diarmuid Murphy, and centre back Tadhg Morley spoke to the media ahead of the All-Ireland final. Here’s what he discovered.



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1. Kerry returned to earth quickly after the Dublin game



You could forgive the players for lingering up in the clouds for a few days after that monumental win a fortnight ago. In fact, speaking post-match, manager Jack O’Connor admitted that it wouldn’t be easy to ground his players following that high.



Tadhg Morley feels the group managed to do just that, however. And quite quickly, too.



“There was the initial release of emotion at the final whistle the last day [against Dublin] but once we came into the dressing room then we calmed things down,” the Templenoe man said. “We spoke about Mayo beating the Dubs last year and then not finishing out the job.



“It was a quick turnaround but Jack and the lads spoke very well. Jack has so much experience. Straight after the match he knew what to say to bring us back down to earth.



“Us talking to Seánie more about his penalty than his free probably helped as well!”



Mike Quirke admitted that management were concerned that last Wednesday’s training session – the team’s first after the Dublin match – would be “a bit down”. It wasn’t.



“That’s a testament to the attitude the players are bringing,” Quirke said.



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2. The third quarter is a concern



“We have plenty of holes to pick in the performance [in the semi-final],” O’Connor insisted. “Plenty of holes. Because our performance across the four quarters wasn’t even enough to give you confidence going into a final. I thought our third quarter was poor. We left Dublin back into it.”



Diarmuid Murphy agreed. “In some of the games we haven’t started the second half well. You try to get to the bottom of it, see are there any recurring themes that are emerging, tackle it, and see if we can do better the next day.”



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3. The team has placed an emphasis on mental toughness



“When we got a few body blows in that Dublin game, it would have been very for us to capitulate,” O’Connor reflected. “But there was a grim determination to hang in there. I think a lot of that is probably down to the work Tony (Griffin) has done with the boys.”



Morley said that performance coach Griffin has made a “huge difference” since coming on board. “The last few years we never felt we were a million miles away from winning the All-Ireland, even though when you don’t win it, you are.



&#8220;We’re only looking for a couple of small percentages here and there. That was a big one, the mental side of the game. The mind is an amazing thing.



“A big thing Tony and Paddy (Tally) spoke about, and we spoke about it as a group ourselves: when the Dubs do have that purple patch or we’re coming down the stretch and it’s really hard, that you don’t shell up, that you don&#8217;t shy away from it, that you&#8217;re looking for the ball every single time.



“That was as big thing for us and you really saw it the last day. A few leaders really stood up and everybody followed through then.”



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4. Jack has the human touch



After he stepped away from the fold, Kerry defender Shane Enright said he felt he had been left in the dark by Peter Keane. A perceived lack of communication over an unexpected positional change left him frustrated. It appears as though the current manager is taking a different approach.



“In fairness to Jack, he’s a very good man manager,” Morley said. “[When he was appointed] he went around and met all the players around Kerry, which is a really good touch I thought. It showed a good progression and good management skills.”



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“One of his greatest strengths is that he’s constantly talking to players,” Quirke added.</blockquote>



“There are some managers who don’t do that. His communication with players is as good as I’ve ever come across. The players know that they can [talk to him]. He’s very open to that kind of stuff. That side of things is very important, that players understand that there’s a personal connection there.”



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5. Kerry are trying to avoid ‘loose talk’



Unsurprisingly, some Kerry fans are anticipating an easy win. The Kerry squad are avoiding that kind of rhetoric like the plague.



“That’s why you have to insulate the players as much as possible from the public,” the manager explained.



“This is my eighth or ninth final. I know the pitfalls that are there. Players are in a totally different bubble to supporters. Supporters see All-Ireland finals as occasions with razzmatazz and a great atmosphere and all the rest of it, whereas the players have to divorce themselves, most of the time, from that. They have to understand this is about performing on the big day.”



“We just focus on ourselves and our own jobs and our own training,” Morley said. “Lads stay away from all that kind of talk &#8211; that loose kind of talk. We just focus in on what we&#8217;re trying to do for the Galway game.”



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Five things I learned at the Kerry team's press day

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