O’Connor: Armagh crowd a big factor in the game

Kerry manager Jack O’Connor lamented missed chances and a momentum-changing goal after his side were knocked out of the championship by Armagh in a titanic All-Ireland semi-final.

In particular, the Kerry boss stressed the impact of the very sizeable Armagh crowd as giving the Ulster runners-up energy and momentum in the closing stages, especially after Barry McCambridge’s second half goal.

O’Connor was relatively sanguine and phlegmatic after his first ever semi-final defeat as Kerry boss – after seven successive wins – but he rued the missed goal chance shortly after half-time, when Tom O’Sullivan fired wide, and then the Armagh goal, McCambridge slapping home after Shane Ryan spilled a high ball.

“That goal chance into the Hill was a critical moment,” O’Connor told RTÉ Sport. “It looked like if that went in, I thought the game was probably beyond Armagh.

“And then obviously the poor goal we conceded was a huge moment in the game. I think that’s where the game swung. Those two moments.

“The goal we conceded was a killer in the sense that it got the Armagh crowd into it. I thought we’d quieted the crowd for large parts of the game.

“That goal gave them momentum and the crowd drove them on. They outnumbered us fairly substantially out there. And I thought the crowd was a factor in the game. No question about it. It just lifted Armagh.

“Our fellas tried very hard but it was hard to arrest that momentum.

“Armagh haven’t been here for a while so they were bound to come in big numbers. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend up north. Armagh are great supporters, great followers and they came in big numbers today.”

It was the third year in succession that Armagh had found themselves pitched into an extra-time battle in Croke Park deep into the championship – added to the back-to-back Ulster finals which have gone the distance.

While the experience of these tussles had been mostly painful up to now, O’Connor did admit that their greater experience in those situations may have been a benefit down the stretch.

“Over the last couple of years, they’ve gone to extra-time and even penalties in a few games. Maybe they had the experience to manage that.

“We obviously had to make a lot of changes. And we finished the game without a good share of what we call fairly key men. In the end, maybe that lack of experience on the field told.

“There were a couple of chances that we didn’t take near the end that maybe on another day, we would.”

While two-time Footballer of the Year David Clifford endured a frustrating evening, O’Connor was quick to point out that he was being “double-marked and triple-marked” and stressed Kerry’s failure to pick up enough scores from elsewhere.

As to the old chestnut concerning whether Kerry were tested enough to this point – they were the only team to have won all their games up until now – O’Connor didn’t play it up as a factor.

“We weren’t tested to that extent that we were tested out there, I suppose. And that was possibly a factor.

“But my abiding feeling was when you miss chances and then you concede a poor goal like we did… that’s huge because it’s a momentum changer.

“Momentum is big in games. And then when you’ve a huge crowd behind Armagh and the momentum swings, that’s a poor combination from our point of view.”

After three years in the job, the question inevitably popped up as to whether the four-time All-Ireland winning manager wished to continue. Early indications are yes.

“You’re trying to retire me,” he replied jokingly, “Ah sure, we don’t know. This management has another year in its contract or whatever so we’ll hopefully see that out.

“It’s a sombre dressing room obviously. But sure look, you’ve to take these things with a bit of grace. The players were exemplary all the year, they behaved themselves in an exemplary way and represented Kerry very well. So, nothing but proud of them.”