Jack O'Connor: Missed chances and Armagh goal swung the momentum

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 sizable 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