DUBLIN may have felt September 1 was their date with destiny - but Kerry boss Peter Keane believes All-Ireland Senior Football Finals are almost a birthright for the men of the Kingdom.
They live to fight another day thanks to Dean Rock’s difficult last-gasp free falling wide, a miss that denied Dublin’s ‘drive for five’, at least until September 14.
The Kerry manager insisted that the almost universal expectation of a Dublin victory would not have fazed his players, despite how young a few of them are:
“Some guys think about this using motivation but look, at the end of the day, it’s a Kerry team, you’re a Kerry player, you’re kicking ball against the gable of a wall since you’re knee-high.
“You want to play on a day like this, you feel you’re born for this, to get up to Croke Park….We hadn’t been here since 2015 so you want to be here on these days and we’ll get a second bite at it.
“Jaysus, it’d be a lot worse to be going out of here having lost, wouldn’t it?”
Keane continued to project that air of positivity, rejecting the idea that there might be disappointment in their changing room:
“Ah, no, I wouldn’t say it’s an opportunity missed. At the end of the day we weren’t in an All-Ireland final since 2015. You’ve a young team. What are they going to get only experience out of the game?
“In terms of learning curve, I said all year we’re on a crash course with a learning curve and sure this is only helping it.”
Kerry, of course, could have got the Sam Maguire Cup out of this game, but their hopes of that shock outcome weren’t helped by Paul Geaney having a scuffed shot cleared off the line and his penalty kick saved, while Paul Murphy rattled the Dublin crossbar in the second half.
Keane dismissed a suggestion that free-taker Sean O’Shea should have been the man to strike the spot-kick, saying with a shrug: “Paul was the penalty-taker so, you know; look, you score penalties, you miss penalties. It is what it is.”
Yet while the Kingdom couldn’t celebrate victory, Keane was adamant they wouldn’t be drowning their sorrows about missed chances:
“I suppose if you’re looking at the glass half-empty you could think like that - but we’re not looking at the glass half-empty…
“I suppose you’re right [that Kerry could have won]. We could have lost it. I suppose Dublin will probably feel the same. Look, it’s like any draw, you take it and you go away and prepare for the next day…
“You’re creating chances and if you’re creating chances another one will come. Keep rattling away and something will come out of it.”
The St Mary’s, Cahersiveen clubman did acknowledge that Dublin would still be strong favourites for the replay, pointing to their dominance throughout this decade:
“Sure of course they will. At the end of the day, they’ve won four All-Irelands on the bounce, were they going for seven in the last nine years today? Am I right in that?
“They didn’t get those All-Irelands in a lucky bag. They’re a serious team. We’ll go away and have a cut at it again.”
Still, the Kingdom will always believe in themselves, no matter what any outsiders think, as Keane explained in his colourful way:
“While ye might read a lot into yourselves, we wouldn’t read a lot into what ye’re thinking. We wouldn’t put a whole pile of emphasis on that. We’re just thinking about ourselves.
“Did we think we had a hand coming here today? Sure, of course. If you’ve two dogs in any race, one of the dogs might get a heart attack and the other fella will walk home. You’ve a chance every time you’re out there.”
Kerry will be out there again in the middle of this month. Keane, if you were to believe his schtick, might be surprised that it’s on a Saturday, but he and Kerry will be there, and they’ll believe.
“Well we’ll go back now. What day is today? Sunday. We’ll either be training Tuesday or Wednesday so everybody’s finger is into it again.”
Those fingers may be crossed, but Kerry certainly aren’t holding their hands up and accepting defeat just yet.
