Long-serving midfielder David Moran has praised the team spirit and work ethic of the current Kerry squad, saying it’s probably the best he has encountered in his inter-county senior career that began all the way back in 2008.
Speaking after yesterday’s 22-point demolition job on Cork in the Munster Final, which helped to erase some of the memories of last November’s shock loss at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, the 33-year-old midfielder is delighted with how the season is progressing.
“I’m not sure that I’ve been part of a squad with such a squad ethos. Some fellas come in. Some start. I’ve got taken off in plenty of games this year and I wasn’t giving out. Jack (Barry) came off today, he could have stayed on. I think the team is bigger than that at the moment,” he stressed.
“It’s just a close-knit squad. Winning helps too. Fellas just seem to get on. It’s a young squad. I’m not sure exactly where it’s coming from, but it’s good so far.”
However, like his manager Peter Keane, the Tralee stalwart was far from impressed with how Kerry had started the match, as they found themselves five points in arrears during the first half.
“Yeah, we’d be very happy with three quarters of it. Obviously, the first quarter, we were very disappointed. We knew, at the first water break, that things didn’t go to plan. But we came knowing that we’d like to start how we finished, but it didn’t happen. Thankfully we got there in the end.”
The Kerry manager is already looking ahead to a clash with Tyrone or Monaghan at Croke Park in three weeks’ time.
“They came across each other earlier in the year in Division 1. What was the result in that game? A draw. A lot of these games in the north, there is very little between them. Even last weekend, you saw Donegal and Tyrone. There mightn’t be a whole pile in that game next week,” he said.
Keane is hopeful that first half retiree Diarmuid O’Connor will have recovered for the All-Ireland semi-final, with Dara Moynihan, who missed yesterday’s game, probably back in the mix as well. He also paid tribute to James O’Donoghue, who left the Kingdom squad earlier in the week.
“Diarmuid got a bang, so we had to take him out of it. We’ll assess him over the next couple of days and see where he is at. Injuries are something that happen, that goes back to your squad,” he added.
“James decided to go back to his club, maybe find a bit of form, and he has been a fantastic player for Kerry over many years. That is what it is. The door is open to everyone. We are working on Dara. He wasn’t ready for today, but we’ll see how we go.”
Despite still having one year remaining on his term in charge, Cork manager Ronan McCarthy refused to discuss his future afterwards.
“Look lads, to be fair, I’ve come out and I don’t have to come out. I come out win or lose. And I think that is a conversation that there are three parties involved in: the county board, the players and myself, and I am hardly going to talk to you about it now,” said the Douglas man.
“We can feel sorry for ourselves or we can dust ourselves down. They obviously go back to their clubs now and we’ve a fairly busy club programme ahead of us. You can feel sorry for yourself, or go and do something about it, and that’s up to the lads what they want to do.”
