All-Ireland redemption a 'dream scenario' for Kingdom

Coasting to All-Ireland success and able to savour the closing minutes of a landmark 12-point final win for Kerry, a 'dream scenario' for joint manager Darragh Long.

It was all the sweeter because precisely 12 months ago, after Kerry's painful final loss to Dublin, and on the back of the 2022 final loss to Meath, Long and Declan Quill had agreed to step aside as joint managers.

"We were in the middle of the field last year looking up at Carla (Rowe) getting the Cup for Dublin and blue everywhere," said Quill. "I remember we shook hands and he (Long) said, 'That's it'. And I said, 'That's it for me too'. He has kids at home, I have three kids at home as well. It is hard to keep everything going."

The following morning, during a chat at the team hotel before returning home, they started to talk about the tweaks and alterations that might possibly make the difference in 2024. And just like that, they were up and running again.

The journey from there to here, to the summit of the 2024 Championship, via a first Munster championship success since 2017, has been a thrilling one.

"Perseverance is some trait to have and we have got it in absolute abundance," said Long. "We wrote down four items five and a half years ago when we took this job. We have ticked every box as of today.

"And yet last year we could have thrown in the towel, and we were super close to doing that. We thought we had run our race. We thought we had asked as much of the girls as we could ask of them. But we sounded girls out and they wanted us back. Unfinished business.

"It was tough losing against Meath two years ago but we probably weren't expected to win. A lot of people maybe thought we'd win last year so that one hurt. And last year still hurts even though we