OFF TO A FLYER: BOTH FOOTBALLERS AND HURLERS START LEAGUE WITH VICTORIES
KERRY manager Fintan O’Connor was delighted following his side’s 1-21 to 2-16 victory in the first round of the league, which puts the Kingdom right into contention for promotion.
“Delighted to get over the line. I know Antrim were down a man in the first half so I suppose it was just a matter of getting them over the line and sometimes with the numerical advantage we kind of found ourselves not knowing who was marking who or who was picking up who.
“We’re just delighted to come up here and get a result and it’s a great start,” O’Connor said when speaking after the game.
Kerry have numerous players involved in Fitzgibbon and Ryan Cup competitions and the college finals take place on the same weekend that Kerry travel to London.
“We don’t know what [players] we’re going to have. We’re playing Westmeath next week. We don’t know who we’re going to have available because of lads playing Fitzgibbon. We’re going to London the weekend of the Ryan Cup/Fitzgibbon Cup final, there could be lads involved in that, but it’s hard to know.
“This is a great start and we’ll try and build on that and see where it takes us. Antrim will come back. They’ll get the Cushendall lads back. Westmeath are a serious team, Meath are a very good side so look we’ll try take every game one step at a time and see where that takes us,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor did not know what had happened in the incident that led to Nicky McKeague’s dismissal, as he saw the player dismissed covered in blood.
“I saw Mikey going up and landing and I thought they clashed heads now because the chap that got sent off came off with blood all over him. I saw it, but I didn’t know exactly what happened.
“When I saw the man covered in blood I thought they banged heads or something,” O’Connor said.
Kerry face Westmeath this weekend in what promises to be a cracking affair, as both sides picked up maximum points in their opening game.