AS Peter Keane acknowledged, yesterday was always going to be historic.
The pity for Kerry was that Dublin made it rather than them.
They were well placed to deny them at half-time after dragging themselves back into the game and drawing level when it looked like they might have been swamped.
But Dublin opened a lead on them again in the second half and managed the game far better from there, with Kerry never regaining the momentum they had in the third quarter.
“What can you say?” said the Kerry boss. “They’re after winning five All-Irelands in-a-row. It’s an historic day, no matter what was going to happen today.
“They were either going to win five or they were going to not win five – there was going to be history one way or the other.
“You’d have to compliment them and congratulate them on their achievement.”
Although they haven’t managed to deny Dublin the five-in-row that eluded Kerry in 1933 and 1982, it looks like they will be the next county to claim the Sam Maguire Cup on the basis of what we’ve seen this year, and particularly in the past fortnight.
“Look, if you want to put a positive spin on it, you’re thinking that,” said Keane. “But at the end of the day you’ve lost an All-Ireland final. You’re disappointed. You go away and lick your wounds, gather yourself and come at it again next year.”
He brushed aside the suggestion that their chance came and went in the drawn game 13 days earlier.
“I wouldn’t have felt that we left it behind. I can see the argument. Dean Rock had a chance of kicking a winner at the end of it.
“So had he scored there would have been no leaving behind, we would have lost it.
“I suppose with any young team, what did we have, we had 11 fellas that started in an All-Ireland for the first time and we had two fellas that came on in that game so that was 13 fellas playing in their first All-Ireland final so in may ways you’d have said, ‘Jaysus this is great’ because you’re getting another shot at it and another opportunity to build on it.”
Reflecting on the year as a whole, Keane added: “What I would say is that even today, like, I would be terribly, terribly proud of the lads. They fought with their shoes on to the end and literally had to be carried out of there.
“Throughout the year they’ve given me the same. Of course it’s disappointing. We’ve lost a League final here; we’ve lost an All-Ireland final here. But look, that happens. But there was a lot of learning.
“It was a year, even looking at the championship, what are the top six teams in the Championship? Dublin, we drew with. Donegal, we drew with. Tyrone we beat.
“Cork we beat in the Munster championship. Mayo we beat in Killarney. There was certainly no easy route to this for a young team and you’ll hope they’ll learn from that.
“By and large, we’re reasonably happy. But you’re not happy to lose an All-Ireland final.”
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