SEAN O’Shea made it clear Kerry’s panel drew motivation from how they were largely “written off” ahead of upsetting Armagh.
The Kingdom showed 2025 may see them rule Gaelic football once again with a statement performance while dumping the All-Ireland champions out at the quarter-final stage.
The 26-year-old was the driving force throughout as they ground Armagh down[/caption]
Lee Keegan acknowledged it was a ‘very interesting’ post-match interview[/caption]
O’Shea led the way from the start and wound up being their top scorer with a haul of 12 points.
Afterwards during his Player of the Match interview he made a point of how their dominant second half showing only came as a surprise to those on the outside looking in.
The Kenmare clubman emphasized: “We were written off. People weren’t giving us a hope, even down home (in Kerry).
“But we’ve a really tight group. Nobody knows what goes inside there in our dressing room. As fellas we love each other. We’re a really tight group and I think that showed there today.
“We’d asked the Kerry crowd to get behind us today and they really did help us out there during that second half.”
He was then asked had their more fringe players proven they’re up to the task of being potential All-Ireland winners.
The three-time All-Star noted that today’s contest enforced another case of “next man up” on them when star defender Tom O’Sullivan was forced off with a muscle injury.
He added: “People have probably talked about our squad and said that we don’t have strength in depth.
“But we showed today that we do. Look at Evan Looney coming in for Tom O’Sullivan after 10 or 15 minutes.
“In only his third or fourth Championship game I thought he took it to like a duck to water. Nothing phased him.
“So we’ve full faith in our squad, we see the standards in it every night in training. We just can’t wait to get two more weeks out of them.”
When the camera threw back to Joanne Cantwell and the punditry team of Lee Keegan, Tomás Ó Sé and Derry midfielder Conor Glass, they were struck by its forthright nature.
While it wasn’t exactly Kieran Donaghy “Well Joe Brolly what do you think about that” levels of score-settling, host Cantwell noted how fired up he clearly was.
KINGDOM COMING
She summarised: “Lots of fight from Sean O’Shea, not only on the pitch but in his words as well.”
Mayo great Keegan then chipped in: “That was a very interesting interview I have to say. Interesting hearing say they’d extra energy from morning to night.
“And they clearly threw off the shackles. But as well as that their work-rate and intensity (was the number one factor).
“Enda McGinly on commetary was right to call it a statement performance.
“They did everything right today. To score 32 points that is some return in a game like that. So listen, it was a deserving victory and he in particular was awesome.”
Kerry will face another familiar Ulster foe as they were drawn against Tyrone while Donegal and Meath will square off in the other semi-final after the Royals knocked out 2024 runners-up Galway.
Those games will play out across July 12 and 13 with exact fixture details to be confirmed by the CCCC on Monday.
