"Football expectations in a county like Kerry," says Paidi O Se, "are always going to be great." The Kerry manager is glad to observe that: "The lads are now beginning to cope with these expectations, which is a very important part of a player's thinking.

"Winning the league, the Munster championship last year and retaining it today means an awful lot to us in terms of building up the confidence of this team."

His co-selector, Seamus Mac Gearailt, described the Kerry team "as an improving one at this stage. It was clear by their performance that Clare were not going to submit until the final whistle."

O Se found a suitable way out to avoid criticising his team when he was asked why this team, unlike Kerry teams of the past, did not "skeet away" when Pa Laide hit a superb goal early in the second half for a six-point advantage.

"Well now," he dug deep for a reply, "Cork were six or seven points ahead and they didn't skeet away, did they?"

He added: "It's of course all credit to Clare that we didn't skeet away.

"The stepping stone for today's victory was our defence. I don't think they conceded one goal-scoring opportunity."

O Se admitted he had made a study of the Cork backs against the Clare forwards in the semi-final. "We learned a lot from the amount of space the Cork backs allowed the likes of Ger Keane, Francis McInerney and Martin Daly. When they were running off the ball today there was always a Kerry man with them."

Clare manager John O'Keeffe felt they didn't do themselves justice on the day. "It was close towards the end. We were always trying to get back." He thought that the introduction of two Kerry substitutes towards the end (John Crowley and Mike Russell) who added on points was a shrewd tactical move.

Martin Daly said that while Pa Laide's goal was important, he always thought Clare were going to come back. "We are a strong second half team. We missed points early on in the second half - and when we got back to within two points - that we would never have missed. The introduction of John Crowley was a major factor. He has done us damage before."