A missed goal chance by Tom O’Sullivan after half-time and a Barry McCambridge goal at the other end later in the half were huge moments in Kerry’s extra-time defeat to Armagh according to Jack O’Connor.

The Kerry manager also felt that Armagh’s huge following played a big part in the victory.

“It looked like that missed goal chance into the Hill was a critical moment,” he told reporters.

“If that went in, I thought the game was probably beyond Armagh and then the goal, that poor goal that we conceded was a huge moment in the game. I think that is where the game swung, those two moments. The goal we conceded was a killer in the sense that it got the Armagh crowd into it.

“I thought we quieted the crowd for large parts of the game and it just gave Armagh momentum and it is hard to break momentum. We did well to come back and equalise in normal time, but we had a ferocious effort from our boys. But it was bitterly disappointing, it was a game we had enough chances to win it,” O’Connor lamented.

“They just got momentum. The goal gave them momentum and the crowd drove them on. They outnumbered us fairly substantially out there and I thought the crowd was a factor in the game. No question about it, it just lifted Armagh and we tried very hard but it was hard to arrest that momentum.”

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