KERRY MANAGER EAMONN FITZMAURICE believes his team still have a lot of improvements to make despite cruising to a six point win over Cavan in their All Ireland Senior Football Quarter Final clash.
Speaking after the game, Fitzmaurice was asked what the atmosphere was like in the winning dressing room.
“It was a fairly quiet place to be honest.
“We are definitely disappointed with the second half, no point in saying otherwise, there was a major fade out there in the second half.
“But, at the end of the day, we are into a semi-final, it’s a result business and we’ve a lot of work to do over the next four weeks.
“If we were to play the way that we did in the second half against Dublin, it wouldn’t be pretty.
It marked the second time in as many games that Kerry had raced into a big lead only to take their foot off the gas and see their opponents claw their way back into the game and Fitzmaurice is worried that it’s becoming something of a habit for the Kingdom.
“There is a pattern there in big games we played this year.
“Our Championship started off for us against Down in league because we knew had to win the rest of the league games.
“Against Tyrone in Omagh, it was a a big game for us and we played well in the first half but had a fade out and then against Cork it was probably the same for a 20 minute period but if we had kept the score board ticking over it would have been different.
“There’s no excuse for today though, it was poor and it was disappointing.”
This habit of switching off at key times means many will automatically make Dublin favourites ahead of their semi-final encounter and the Kerry manager kept a close eye on his opponents during their win over Cork.
“The Dublin lads have been the form team all year going back to first weekend of the league in February.
“They are playing exciting football, have huge pace, and Jim Gavin is doing a great job with them and if we play the way we played in the second half they’ll wipe floor with us.
“We are still in it after today, probably number four in a four horse race, but we are still there and we are happy to be there.”
