Kerry Ladies co-manager Darragh Long says the feeling of winning the All-Ireland is still “surreal”.
Kerry ended a 31-year All-Ireland drought for an All-Ireland title when they defeated Galway in Croke Park, after losing the previous two finals to Meath and Dublin.
With the class of 2024 now the team to be remembered, Long says there was a sense of relief when the full-time whistle blew and ended years of heartbreak.
“It is still very surreal. When you have wanted something so bad for so long, in myself and Declan’s case, it has been five years with the seniors. For the likes of Louise, it is 17 years.
“When the final whistle went last week, it is very hard to describe the feeling that we had. We are on the crest of a wave, and I hope that wave never breaks.
“Internally, we never spoke about it. We had a couple of past winners with us in the last couple of weeks, but we never spoke about the gap.
“The baton has now been passed to this group of girls. The girls from 1993 can rest easy.”
One of the most impressive aspects of Kerry’s success was overcoming disappointment.
With much talk of how long it was since their last All-Ireland win, combined with defeat in two straight finals, to pick themselves back up again would not be an easy task for players or management.
However, once Darragh Long and Declan Quill committed themselves to another year, the team was ready to go just weeks after losing to Dublin last year.
“I said it after the game a lot of people questioned the mental toughness of this group in the lead up to the final, and we gave them the best answer possible.
“This group is exceptional. This group wanted to get back at it weeks after losing an All-Ireland final last year.
“Once we decided myself and Declan were going to give it another crack, these girls wanted to get back to the training field as soon as possible. To be fair to them, they have left no stone unturned to get to the holy grail.
“I am very privileged to be working with the girls we have.”
The duo of Long and Quill have been crucial in Kerry’s turn in fortunes, with the win over Galway completing the missing piece of the jigsaw.
However, had they stuck to their original plan, they would not have been there. After defeat to Dublin 12 months ago, it looked the end of the road for the Kerry management duo.
“Two minutes after the final whistle against Dublin, I shook his hand and shook mine, we said thanks for the ride, we are done.
“We had a great time with the girls, but we thought at that time it was time to turn the baton on to someone else because we thought we weren’t the two people to get them over the line.
“By the time we had a couple of pints later that night and woke up the next morning, we were picking our panel for the following year. It did take us another couple of weeks to make a proper decision.
“We met the leadership group and met with girls individually to see where their heads were at and if they could do it again. Once we knew they were all in, for myself and Declan, it was a very easy decision to give it one more crack.”
As of the time of writing, it is unclear if Long and Quill will take charge of Kerry for 2025.
While Long says it is not the right time to make big decisions after winning the All-Ireland, the opportunity to defend an All-Ireland title is tempting.
“We definitely said last year, it was one more go, but the sounds of doing a double, there is a little itch there.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
