O'Connor raring to have 'cut' at the Dubs

Jack O'Connor said his side were raring to have a "cut" at the Dubs after they burned off Mayo in the final quarter in Croke Park.

Kerry, after a sluggish opening, bounded into a long awaited All-Ireland semi-final with Dublin, David Clifford setting them in motion with a coolly taken first half goal.

Speaking afterwards, O'Connor said the 2019 All-Ireland final - when Dublin beat Kerry to complete the five-in-a-row will be uppermost in his players' minds.

The Kerry boss was inclined to brand Dublin's confounding 2021 campaign as a "blip", stressing that Dessie Farrell's side had recovered their drive and vim.

"The bottom line here is these Kerry players have been yearning to get a cut at the Dubs from as far back as three years ago. They lost an All-Ireland out there that they would feel they could have won. We certainly won't be lacking motivation but neither will Dublin."

"Dublin will want to show that they’re back as good as ever, the team that won the six-in-a-row. They had a blip last year and they look to have rediscovered the hunger and the drive that got them to that six in a row."

The Kerry manager was also quick to sound off, once more, about the lengthy gap between the Munster final and the quarters, branding the system "crazy", indicating that it contributed to his team's early malaise.

"We needed a game. I mean, it's ridiculous, we were sitting for four weeks watching our opposition playing games. It's almost like you're penalised for winning the provincial championship.

"Thankfully, that changes next year but it's a crazy system. What do you do? You try to make training as intense as possible and hope for the best. From watching that first half I thought we were a fair bit off the pace.

"In a way I suppose it was a