Síofra O'Shea impressed Kerry have kept up standards from All-Ireland win

Michael Bolton

Kerry forward Síofra O'Shea says she is pleased Kerry have been able to keep up the standard of football that saw them win the All-Ireland last year.

After going over 30 years without winning the All-Ireland, the Kerry ladies finally got their hands on the prize when they defeated Galway.

This season, they have shown no signs of slowing down, with a Division One title already secured, and a Munster final against Waterford this weekend.

This is despite a change in management, with Mark Bourke taking over from Declan Quill and Darragh Long, along with the retirement of key players.

One player who has been vital to their success is O'Shea, who is pleased Kerry have not dropped off so far this season.

"We lost our opening game to Armagh, we learnt from each game and went on a good winning run which lead us to a league final, where we put in our best performance of the year in that final was definitely satisfying.

"We gave so much effort to win the Brendan Martin Cup. When you do win it, that feeling you get for 30 minutes or so, that is a feeling you want to get back.

"You want to get that again. The celebrations we had after it, that is probably the feeling you are chasing again.

"With a new group, you want to write your own story. Being the hunted, you could get carried away with yourself, but we have been kept fairly grounded.

"Standards are a big think, and Mark Bourke has come in and kept those standards high. His level of training, what he expects of us while we are at training, and way from training is massive."

After final defeats in 2022 and 2023 to Meath and Dublin, it looked as though the moment may have passed for Kerry to win and All-Ireland.

With experienced players having gone down this road before, and management considering what to do, a huge effort by the squad, with the return of O'Shea from injury, ended decades of heartbreak.

The Kerry forward paid tribute to the former management of duo for helping them achieve their dream.

"When you get to an All-Ireland, and lose, you think will we ever get back here again. Then you get back the next year and you think you have done everything in your power to win an All-Ireland, and you fall short again to Dublin

"After that, do we go our separate ways as a group and the management leave, or do we give it one more go? When we decided to give it one go, we just decided to put absolutely everything into it.

"That is when we saw the level we could get to and the hard work that needs to be done. Last year, no one was going to stop us, the hurt fuels that fire."