Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Kerry never looked like themselves in 2024

Éamonn Fitzmaurice says Kerry never looked like All-Ireland champions elect in 2024 as the county reflects on their surprise semi-final defeat to Armagh on Saturday.

Leading by five points early in the second half in normal time, Kerry appeared set to book their spot in a third successive All-Ireland final.

However, Barry McCambridge's opportunistically taken goal steered the game in a different direction entering the closing stages.

Eventually pitched into an extra-time battle, Kerry could only rustle up another two points as Armagh seized momentum.

Reflecting on the exit, Fitzmaurice, who guided Kerry to the 2014 All-Ireland title, felt that it came back to the traditional bugbear of the lack of tough tests prior to the knockout phase.

And the ex-Kingdom manager reckoned that the five-point win over league champions Derry in the quarter-final was less of a stiff test than it might have appeared, given the exertions of Mickey Harte's side in Castlebar the week before.

"Kerry never looked like All-Ireland champions elect this year. There was never that purpose or rhythm about them," Fitzmaurice said on the RTÉ GAA podcast. "A team that wins an All-Ireland, as a season goes on, you can see the ingredients. When you look back, you can see the telltale signs.

"In Kerry, we kept expecting them to catch fire. I think when the draw for the group stages was made, we were a bit disappointed.

"Because they were going to win those games and there wasn't going to be a challenge there.

"I was actually quite worried last week. I looked back at the Derry game last week. On the second viewing, Derry were actually wrecked.

"At the time, I was so distracted by the quality of the game, I didn't appreciate how drained Derry were.

"Gareth McKinless