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Keane says he will decide on Kerry future in time after loss to Tyrone

For the second consecutive year, Peter Keane and Kerry will not contest the All-Ireland Senior Fo...



Keane says he will decide on K...
Football

Keane says he will decide on Kerry future in time after loss to Tyrone

For the second consecutive year, Peter Keane and Kerry will not contest the All-Ireland Senior Football final.

That's after they lost by a single point after extra-time to Tyrone in their semi-final on Saturday.

3-14 to 0-22 was the final score at Croke Park and the result means their wait for a first All-Ireland since 2014 goes on.

Speaking to OTB Sports at full-time, Kerry manager Peter Keane said although it hurt they couldn't really have any complaints.

"It's difficult to sum it up in a few words.

"We are obviously very disappointed, we came here with the ambition of getting to a final and we've come up short by a point so we are disappointed.

"I'd have to say though that I'm terribly proud of the lads - they died on their backs today.

"They gave it everything they possibly could today, even at the end when we went into extra-time - we conceded a goal and two points to go five [points] down and got it back to a goal, one score.

"We kept chipping away, even at the death we had an opportunity to level it again."

Kerry lost star forward David Clifford to injury as the game went to extra-time.

Keane agreed this was a turning point in the game.

"If you look at him in the game itself I think he had scored eight points.

"A player of his calibre is always going to be a loss but look that's what happens."

The game wasn't without controversy in the build-up and was postponed twice after a major Covid outbreak in the Tyrone squad.

They, therefore, had a four-week wait for the game following the Ulster final while Kerry had not played in five weeks since their hammering of Cork in the Munster decider.

Keane didn't think this should allow them any space for excuses though.

"We were obviously preparing for three [weeks], then we had four and then it was five.

"Look, we're here today and there isn't much point complaining about anything. "

The result brings another year of Peter Keane's reign in charge to a close.

In his three years, he has brought Kerry to an All-Ireland final replay in 2019, saw them knocked out early on in a shock defeat to cork last year and now Saturday's result.

He conceded that there will be a postmortem on the result in the long winter ahead.

In a county like Kerry, which demands the highest of standards, the last few years will not have been good enough.

He gave little away when asked about his future after the game;

"Ahh, we'll decide that in time."

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All-Ireland Football Championship Final Kerry GAA Peter Keane