O'Connor: 'We needed a jolt at half-time'

After guiding Kerry to the fourth All-Ireland title of his now storied management career, Jack O'Connor described their hard-fought final victory over Galway as the best kind of win and expressed the hope it would be "the start of something good."

Kerry had overcome a stuttering first half display to surge past the Connacht champions in the closing stages, getting home by four points in the finish.

Reflecting on the first half showing, O'Connor suggested that the burden of favouritism had possibly weighed on his players but the manager relished the manner of their victory in the end and the character shown.

"They're the best ones of all," O'Connor said, when asked whether they'd 'dug it out'.

"This was never going to be an easy game. I’m not sure what the odds were because I’m not a betting man. But we never took Galway lightly. I thought Galway played very very well.

"Maybe the tag of favouritism rested heavily on our fellas’ shoulders, particularly in the first half I thought we were very jiggy and not composed on the ball.

"I think we had seven wides kicked before Galway registered a wide. So they looked like they were nailing everything down into the Hill 16 end, and we were very wasteful up the other end.

"In general play I thought we were doing ok. We were turning Galway over. And we were doing very well on the Galway kick-out. I just thought we were lacking composure and just needed to be more clinical. And that was the message at half-time."

O'Connor indicated that Kerry had been given "a bit of a jolt" in the half-time team-talk.

"I was quite animated myself at half-time. I felt that we weren’t playing to our potential out there. There were players who had more to give.

"We’ve always been pretty composed in the dressing