Seven yellow cards, four black cards and a red card may have punctuated much of the narrative of Kerry's league win over Dublin on Sunday, but Kingdom boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice was keen afterwards to stress the "keen rivalry" that has been part and parcel of the fixture over the years.
The All-Ireland champions recorded a 0-15 to 1-10 success in Killlarney, with Fitzmaurice refusing to accept that the brandishing of so many cards affected the dynamic of the game.
"I don't think so," he told RTÉ Sport. "Both teams were going hard at it and there’s a keen rivalry between both sides. We hadn’t beaten Dublin in a game in league or championship since 2012 and we wanted to try and correct that. They were keen to keep the run going. There is good competition between both sides.”
The key to Kerry's second league win this spring was a strong start to the second half - a period in which Fitzmaurice felt side cut down on individual errors.
"In the first half, Dublin were very clinical in converting their chances. We weren’t as clinical at the other end and were getting a share of the fundamentals wrong. To be fair to the lads they corrected that in the second half and we played well for the third quarter of the game.
"We hadn’t beaten Dublin in a game in league or championship since 2012 and we wanted to try and correct that" - Eamonn Fitzmaurice
“We weren’t making as may individual errors after the break. We played with a bit of confidence and we got a couple of early scores that settled the lads and they got going from there.
The Kerry manager also had news about James O'Donoghue and Colm Cooper and when they may return to competitive action.
"James and Colm have symptom-led injuries that once the symptom settles and they are ready to go we’ll throw them back into action," he said.
"We’re looking forward to getting them back but we’re not going to rush them and we’re not going to put a date on it. Both of them are progressing well but it will be later in the league at the earliest before they return."
