They had a lot to celebrate!
A common sight in GAA is to see players put the head back down and race back into position after a score, no matter how skilful or high the stakes.
At most, you might catch a glimpse a fist pump or two in the bigger games.
But just as Kerry have changed their style of play to suit the new rules, they also changed the way they went about their celebrations during yesterday’s All-Ireland SFC final, with exuberant gesturing after many of their excellent scores.
They were right to do it as well, as it clearly gave them extra lift and momentum, with Donegal always threatening to catch fire.
And as the late Páidí Ó Sé once said, “a grain of rice will tip the scale.”
Since winning the 2022 All-Ireland, Kerry were beaten in the final in 2023 and the semis in 2024, and speaking with pundit and former Laois player Colm Parkinson, Paudie Clifford explained why they changed tack.
He said: “We just said we’d enjoy it a bit more. We were taking things a bit too seriously the last few years….you need a bit of flair when you score.”
Straight after yesterday’s final, Clifford was bullish in his interview.
He said: “We would have put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We would be our own biggest critics but we did feel disrespected.
“We felt disrespected for a long time. A team that was in three of the last four All-Irelands and have won two of the last four, we felt very disrespected.
“Being called a one-man team when you have fellas like Joe O’Connor, fellas like Jason Foley (who) have worked all their lives to play for Kerry, and you’re called a ‘one-man team’ because you haven’t won every All-Ireland. So we felt disrespected.”
