Great venue, great crowd, lovely atmosphere; only negative was result -Jack O’Connor

Kerry manager, Jack O’Connor, was pretty relaxed despite Sunday’s defeat to Donegal in Ballyshannon.

Without a number of his All-Ireland winning side, O’Connor felt that Donegal were the better team but was happy with the way his side dug in when it looked like they might get a hammering early in the second half.

“I’d be disappointed with the result but in the circumstances, you know, half way through the second half, it looked like we were going to get a bit of a beating, but I'd be very happy with the fact that we dug in and made a game in the end.

“And coming down the last ten minutes there, I thought we were an extremely good team. We were in the ascendancy, and we had half a sniff of it at the end.

“But overall I don't think we were a better team, but I'd be happy with a lot of aspects of our display, particularly our attitude,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor felt the periods before and after half-time was where the game was won and lost. While they only had five of last year’s starting All-Ireland line-up, he was happy with the way the lads that were selected played.

“That game could have got away from us. In just a certain period, the five minutes before half-time and maybe the ten minutes after half-time that killed us. From the top of my head, Langan got two two-pointers after half-time. The goal was a bad goal for us to concede from our own kick-out.”

O’Connor had special praise for Sean O’Shea, who finished with 0-11 and almost single handedly kept Kerry in the game.

“He's some man in a battle, and he relished that battle today,” said O’Connor, who said it was hard to stop Donegal’s running power.

“I enjoyed the game in many ways. Great venue, 9,000 people, nice day, good surface, good battle. I didn’t enjoy the result but I enjoyed the game,” said O’Connor.

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Asked about the absence of talisman David Clifford, he said he “had a bit of a ‘flu during the week”.

There was huge disappointment around the ground, especially from the younger generation, when news that Clifford had not got off the bus became known.

Jack O’Connor didn’t seem too annoyed with the result. You could tell from his relaxed demeanour that Kerry enjoyed their weekend trip to the North West despite the result.