O'Shea and Caffrey praise their teams

Kerry football manager Pat O’Shea believes his side answered all the questions asked of them as they survived a late Dublin rally to advance to the Bank of Ireland All-Ireland SFC final.

Despite leading by six points at one stage in the second half, Dublin pegged Kerry back to a single point on two occasions before eventually going down 1-15 to 0-16 at a packed Croke Park.

O'Shea admitted: 'We had good patches, Dublin finished stronger, we lost Darragh Ó Sé after 15 minutes - that would be a bolt to any team. It was hard, and the questions were asked of us at half-time; did we have the necessary hunger again, did we have that will to go out in the second half and take the game to Dublin?

'Overall we’re very pleased with the performance and the result.'

O'Shea's Dublin counterpart Paul Caffrey refused to criticise his players and paid tribute to a 'magnificent' performance against the defending champions, who now meet Cork in the decider on 16 September.

Caffrey said: 'Dublin at times out there today were simply magnificent. The players have been tremendous ambassadors for the county.

'They put in a huge effort not just today but all season, and they came off Croke Park knowing they had put everything into winning. But it wasn’t to be.

'We, the management team, are ferociously proud of each and every one of them and the way they handled themselves. They gave it their all and I couldn’t ask for any more than that.'