PAT O'SHEA looked drained but pleased. His Kerry side have put him through the wringer for two weeks running in Croke Park and now the work is just beginning.

"I thought it was a fantastic game," he said of the preceding 70-minute roller-coaster ride. "Both teams gave everything. Not a whole pile of dirty strokes. There is great rivalry but great friendship. That is sport. We go out for the enjoyment of the game."

Not a perfect Kerry performance, he was asked.

" The realistic thing is that there were a lot of question marks and a lot of things reported after last week. I thought our performance was very, very good today.

"Every game is different. Three weeks' time will be a completely different game. You learn a lot of lessons in a tight game and a loss. Last week didn't feel like a win. Today when questions were asked with five minutes to go players stood up. We talk about the panel and strength. It was players who came in and did well."

Kerry have a surface diffidence about them which belies the confidence of their football. O'Shea was asked about Tommy Walsh who has been a huge addition to the All-Ireland champions this summer. No temptation to big the boy up.

"Tommy is a young fella and to be fair he needs time to develop. Unfortunately he is only learning the trade and he is only in the senior squad this year. He needs time to develop. It is one game. He has to keep his head down over the next few weeks."

And as for himself and the season which has unfolded at some length, O'Shea was philosophical.

"To be fair you don't experience so many highs and lows. We play for that reason. If we didn't want to go out and perform in that situation we wouldn't have taken the job. There is no baggage with Kerry though. There is no worry about anything else. It is the pureness of the game. Everyone experiences the pain and everyone experiences the enjoyment when it is over. It is right across the board and there is no other hidden agenda in the room. There is just elation that we are in an All-Ireland final."

Conor Counihan leaned against a whitewashed wall a little further down the corridor and surveyed the end of his maiden season as county manager. Like so many of his predecessors, it came down a defeat to Kerry.

"Unfortunately I think we have only ourselves to blame. We left ourselves with a lot to do. We started well but didn't put scores on the board. In fairness to Kerry they put the chances away. We came out at the start of the second half and within a minute we were down another four points. Didn't make it easy. But these fellas don't give up. They have done that over the last five or six years, knocking at the door trying to kick it down. Today, though, we saw a bit of light on the other side of the door."

Kerry though were able to conjure the strikes they needed when they needed them. The second half was bookended by crucial Kerry goals.

"Two killer goals, yeah, and goals win matches. Unfortunately we had to succumb to that. We got a good goal just before half-time. They came straight out in the second half and scored a goal and we were off the ropes and then back on the floor. In fairness the lads rallied very well. Maybe a small bit of luck at that time if we had got a small bit ahead."

Having escaped Houdini-like last weekend Cork had allowed themselves to believe. Hauling back a nine-point lead in the second half they believed some more yesterday.

" Having come from nine points down you imagine the momentum is behind you. The other team will always get a chance and, fair play to Kerry, they took theirs when it came. I don't know what is missing. I would have to go away and analyse that for a while. We are getting closer but, listen, second is no place."

The mantra of so many Cork managers down the days.

"Everyone experiences the pain and everyone experiences the enjoyment when it is over. It is right across the board and there is no other hidden agenda in the room