Murray salutes 'special bunch' after All-Ireland defence

Meath manager Eamonn Murray says his players kept the best until last as they defended their TG4 All-Ireland senior football crown.

The Royals recovered from a slow start to burn off Kerry at Croke Park, winning by nine points in the end.

After much talk from Murray in the build up that the women from the Kingdom would bring a massive goal threat, they proved him correct quickly as Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh scored a superb goal with eight minutes on the clock.

But Meath are well capable of rattling the net themselves, and they showed it with majors from Emma Troy, Niamh O'Sullivan and Bridgetta Lynch turning the game and seeing the Royals home in a much more comfortable fashion than their victory last year.

"It takes a special bunch to do two-in-a-row," Murray told the press after the game.

"We showed Kerry, and a few other teams, that it can be done. Kerry know all about our system, and how we play. Dublin thought the same last year but when you hit this system you know all about it. Kerry were held to 1-07 for a long time."

Even when Kerry made that lighting start, to move 1-02 clear inside the opening 10 minutes, Murray says it didn't rattle his players.

"You'd never be worried with this bunch, and I mean that," he continued.

"The response was brilliant, three different players scoring goals. Bridgetta came off the bench and she was magic, played the best game of her life.

"All our subs did very well today. We were told during the week that we didn't have subs, but I think we proved today that we have.

"You'd have to win it for that crowd. The lift they gave us. A turnover, a wide for them, it was just magic. We probably had as many supporters there as the other five teams put together, but you wouldn't expect anything