It was announced in October that Darragh Long and Declan Quill, the joint managers of the Kerry ladies footballers, would be staying on for another tilt at the All-Ireland title. Two months earlier, that had seemed unlikely with reports that the Tralee duo were set to step down after four years in charge.
In the interim, Long and Quill gauged the players' desire for them to remain.
"They wanted to get a sense of what we thought of them staying on and all that," says Kerry corner-back Ciara Murphy, speaking at the launch of the Lidl Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé 2024.
"This is their fifth year now with us so we’re happy with where they have brought us. When I started playing with Kerry ladies I’d say the quarter-finals was the furthest I’d got.
"It was great the lads came in and brought us to a whole new level two All Irelands and two league finals and we won two of them as well.
"They have improved Kerry ladies football immensely and we believe in them as a management group. So of course we are delighted to have them on for another year and the girls back them all the way."
Kerry's Shane Ryan and Ciara Murphy at Dingle Harbour announcing details of the Lidl Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé 2024, the famed adult men's and ladies GAA club tournament which takes place from 23-25 February. Details on www.paidiose.com
After going 10 years without reaching an All-Ireland final, Kerry have played in the last two. They lost to Meath in the 2022 decider and Dublin last year.
"Definitely last year hurt the most," says Murphy.
"I think because Meath were in a transition phase they were really hard to stop no team could stop them that year. They just had that system the way they played, their fitness, everything was just mind-blowing really and they deserved it they came up from intermediate and won the All Irelands and fair play to them.
"Last year was gutting really, really disappointing. We’d have played Dublin in the league and in the group stage of the championship as well and we had beaten them twice before that.
"We knew they were going to bring it up a notch and we knew it was in them as well so we weren’t naive or anything. Maybe Dublin had learned a lot more from those two previous meetings with us and they just came out of the blocks that day all guns blazing the first 15 minutes and pinned us down everywhere on the field and we couldn’t get going.
"Maybe they targeted us in the first 15 minutes and after that, I won’t say there was no coming back but we sort of came back into it in the second half I suppose but they always had that lead over us.
"Their athleticism is phenomenal. They have some proper athletes and some good footballers as well so they have that balance.
"It still hurts to this day but hopefully we can learn from it. I know you can say that as well about the Meath game but definitely this hurt a lot more and we will use that hopefully this year going forward."
13 August 2023; Kate Sullivan of Dublin takes on Ciara Murphy of Kerry during the 2023 TG4 LGFA All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Dublin and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
This Kerry team has become known for an attacking style of football and one which is productive in front of goal. That approach has gained admirers at home.
"Very few teams at the moment are playing open football," says Murphy.
"A lot of teams are playing defensive football, over and back the field, but we like to move the ball quick, let the ball do the work.
"We are a kicking team, I suppose. Even with the men’s teams now, it is very much over and back, it is defensive, it is tough to watch, it can get boring.
"So even we hear from people on the streets around Killarney and Tralee, ‘We like the way ye play, we watch more ladies football because of ye’ and that’s great to hear. The more the merrier that are following us because it promotes us and promotes the game a lot more as well."
This weekend, Kerry open their National League campaign with a repeat of last year's All-Ireland final against Dublin. 12 months ago, as the Kingdom defeated the capital in Tralee, Murphy found the net for a goal strikingly similar to one her uncle Colm Cooper scored against Dublin in the 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final.
I knew I saw this goal before. Colm Cooper against Dublin in 2009 v Ciara Murphy (Colm's niece) against Dublin in 2023 @Kerry_Official @kerryladiesfoot pic.twitter.com/E4qy4IUVl7
— Adam Moynihan (@AdamMoynihan) February 22, 2023
"I won’t compare myself to my uncle, I have no All-Ireland medals yet in my back pocket so I have a long way to go yet," says Murphy.
"I was probably above in Croke Park that day when he scored it. I wasn't aware of it until after and it was cool alright. Someone said it to me and I just fobbed them off.
20 July 2014; Kerry footballer Colm Cooper with, from left, Georgia O'Dwyer, Erica McGlynn, Ciara O'Sullivan and his niece Ciara Murphy after the game. All-Ireland U14 'A' Ladies Football Championship Final, Kerry v Mayo, MacDonagh Park, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. Picture credit: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE
Cooper has been a "big" influence on her career
"He was always there or thereabouts," she says.
"When we used to go into my nan's house in Ardshanavooly [in Killarney], he was living there at the time. I was in there nearly every second day.
"He had a big influence on my career. I would have been supporting him since I was two or three. I've length and breadth of the country supporting him, and he does the same for me when he can, coming up to the big games. He was at the two All-Irelands in Croke Park the last two years. Every now and again, he can give back.
"He always reminds me of a few things as well, like I would have reminded him when he was playing! Where I can improve or just small little details that will help."
