Once again, the championship structure in Kerry has been cast into the limelight after the 2014 Munster senior champions and 2021 Kerry champions Austin Stacks had way too much firepower for helpless Tipperary side Aherlow as they won 7-7 to 0-2 in the Munster intermediate decider.
Kerry midfielder Joe O’Connor was the dominant figure as they laid down a 26-point win.
Stacks had a 1-5 to 0-0 at the break, having played with the breeze. The goal came just before the half-time stroke from the boot of Kerry minor star Paddy Lane. It was followed swiftly after that by the sending off Aherlow corner-forward Cathal Dillon.
Whatever slim hopes the Premier men had were all but up in smoke by then. Stacks added six goals in the second half, three from full-forward Cian Purcell, the others from Joe O’Connor, and second-half subs Shane O’Callaghan and Seán Quilter.
Stacks manager less than impressed by twenty-six point win
However, despite the emphatic win, Stacks manager and former Limerick manager Billy Lee was far from impressed, especially with his side's first half.
Speaking to Clubber TV after the game Lee said: “Yeah, look, the way I look at the scoreboard is 14 scores to 2. I don’t think our first-half performance was near good enough to go on to win a semi-final of an All-Ireland, let alone win an All-Ireland,”
“We have work to do to get over the next day, whoever we are playing Ballinderry or Arva and yeah, we have a lot of work to do
It wasn’t good enough. We weren’t learning from each other. We kept repeating the same stuff and trying to push these lads and move up the ladder in Kerry, which we must be conscious of. It’s fair to say that the first half performance was playing senior football next year, and the tradition of stacks name has always been there, but that won’t hold us up in senior football. We got to play better football, and that’s as simple as it gets. “
Whoever Stacks plays next, judging by Lee's post-match interview they could be in for quite the grilling after Sunday's performance.
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