Kerry boss Jack O'Connor has sympathy for Derry manager Paddy Tally after Celtic Park 'smash and grab'!

Derry’s Conor Glass tackles Diarmuid O’Connor of Kerry. Photo: George Sweeney

Kerry manager Jack O'Connor hailed the impact of his substitutes bench in Sunday's thrilling three point victory over Derry in Celtic Park.

The Kingdom's smash and grab raid was capped by three goals in the final five minutes, two from Paul Geaney and one from Donal O'Sullivan, as the duo accounted for 3-02 despite only being introduced in the second half.

"(A) mad game, mad," reflected O'Connor, "I think we were five down with five minutes to go, so you wouldn’t give us much of a chance. It's a different game with the two-pointers. It is almost turning into hurling style scoring. Just a mad game.

"Obviously the turnover for the (fourth) goal that Donal O’Sullivan finished was the key. It looked like we had lost the ball and turned it back over, that goal was crucial. We came at the right time, basically.

"Donal O’Sullivan was full of beans when he went in. Delighted with him off the bench, Paul Geaney too. We got 3-2 off the bench. That is massive."

Trailing by three points with time almost up, O'Connor admitted he would have settled for a draw and had sympathy for Paddy Tally.

"I genuinely, and I'm not putting this on, I genuinely feel sorry for Paddy because he has built his coaching career on doing a good job," added the Kerry boss, "He was great with us defensively and that will hit him hard. I don’t know what you thought, I thought it was a real smash and grab.

"We seriously would have settled for a draw there with five minutes to go. That game hinged on a turnover there. That’s what it hinged on. That just rattled them."

Looking at the new rules, the Kerry boss believed the game will speed up as a result of the ‘three up’ rule.

"The three up is a big one. If there was no other rule than that, it would help the game and the transition from defence to attack no end.

"Every attack last year by and large a slow attack. Now you can transition by foot. That’s how we got the two goals in the first half. We turned them over and broke hard, we kicked and linked inside.

"Obviously the kick-outs are more interesting. A lot of kick-outs up for grabs, breaking ball. I thought Diarmuid O’Connor was immense. Really showed his metal because he was up against a big man in Glass and a monster in Tohill.”