Lean boss with a lean machine

First reaction in the Kerry dressing-room, and it doesn't come from any of the team: "My God is that Páidí Ó Sé!"

As lean and fit as any of the Kerry players, and clearly offering a statement of his own intentions for the year, the new, chiselled-looking Ó Sé is then approached for some words. Close up he cuts a newly inspiring appearance too.

"Well, I was very happy with the way we got stuck into our game from the very beginning," he says. "Kicking 25 points is great any day, no matter who you're playing. We have an amount of work to do yet, mostly with our defence. But I've no doubt the games will bring us on."

One of the questions is whether his formation at the end might be closer to his starting selection the next day, which will be the Munster final against Limerick on July 13th: "All our selections will be based on players coming into form at the right time. We've some more players in trials next weekend, and we'll have another look at them.

"But a lot of those guys that came off the bench are just coming back from injury. And while they have played a good share of football in training with us, it hasn't all been competitive. That was our only fear today. But we are delighted now to have players fighting for positions, all through the field."

Ó Sé then explained why he moved Mike McCarthy into full back in place of Eamonn Fitzmaurice: "Well Mike had a very successful campaign on Declan Browne in the past, and has always managed to get the upper hand. So it was a psychological move more than anything. It wasn't any lack of confidence in Eamonn Fitzmaurice. It was just we wanted to copper-fasten our full-back line a little more."

So now the thoughts turn to Limerick, the team now deemed as true contenders for the Munster title. "Well the experience they've got over the past two years has been huge," said Ó Sé. "They probably could have beaten us last year in Limerick. So it's going to be one hell of a game. They don't fear us anymore so we'll just have to be right for it. And we have a month to do that."

For Tom McGlinchey, the Tipperary manager, most of the talk can only be in the admiration for Kerry. "Everything Kerry kicked went over the bar," he says. "They were awesome. Hopefully we can learn something from that for the qualifiers, but it is disappointing. We are better than that. I mean a lot of things we spoke about at length before the game just didn't work for us."