Warmed by the glow of victory, Jack O'Connor chuckled when asked the question "was this what you came back for?"
"Jesus, I don't know, lads!" he sighed, with a nod of the head. "'Tis tough going, 'tis tough on the heart… I tell you, that was tough going near the end."
His words sounded uncertain but his eyes betrayed the fact that there was nowhere he'd rather be.
The Kerry manager was still stirred up after presiding over a first win against Dublin since the first season of his second stint in charge back in 2009 - and was curious himself to know whether more detached observers thought as he did, that the match ranked as a classic.
"Can I ask ye a question, was it the classic that we thought it was on the line, as a battle? Two prize bulls going toe to toe.
"It felt on the line that it was like two heavyweights going at it, trading punches. That's the way it felt to me on the line. Not that I should have been getting those kind of notions on the line. Every now and again, you'd say, 'Jesus wouldn't it be great to be inside in the middle of this, trading blows.'"
O'Connor is well used to the All-Ireland final build-up. Now in his eighth season in charge across three separate stints, it will be his sixth All-Ireland final as manager, with three wins under his belt. Outside of Mick O'Dwyer, he has comfortably the best strike-rate of any Kerry manager.
Even before that, as he reminded reporters, he was a selector under Paídí Ó Sé for the All-Ireland wins of 1997 and 2000.
He didn't return to preside over a period of transition or renewal or to prime Kerry for some better future at an indeterminate point down the line. He returned with the assignment of winning back Sam Maguire at the first available opportunity. Now, he's on the brink of completing that assignment.
"Maybe I know some of the pitfalls in the build-up. Especially in Kerry – they tend to get a bit carried away," he observed.
"But maybe my experience of being in a good share of finals – I was in a couple with Páidí Ó Sé as well, as a selector.
"So maybe I might be able to pass on a bit of advice to, you know, avoid all the noise, the outside noise, and just concentrate on getting a performance. If that’s a help, so be it."
Kerry led by five at half-time but there was some discomfort that the gap wasn't more, given they were attacking into the Canal End, downwind on Sunday and the easier to shoot into even on calmer afternoons.
O'Connor did take the opportunity to address the issue of teams tactically wasting time to run down the clock when one of the players sits in the sin bin, saying it warrants examination by the rule-makers - or else everyone could do it.
"We could have been three more if the penalty went it and it would probably have allowed us to play a bit different in the second half and sit a bit deeper and play them on the break but, you know, I’m not too sure now, there was a bit of pressure on Seanie for that kick because the goalie obviously stayed down for a considerable period of time.
"This craic that you can lie down and waste three minutes off a black card, that’s ridiculous. To what degree can you exploit that?
"If that’s the case, sure everyone could get players lying down for five minutes and waste half the black card, do you know what I’m saying? Ye’d agree with that? That’s a rule that needs to be tweaked isn’t it?"
All was going smoothly for Kerry until they were rocked by the concession of a goal in the third quarter, Dublin capitalising on sloppy Kerry handling in midfield, launching a rapid counter which ended with Cormac Costello rattling a low shot into the far corner.
"It was the one thing that we were afraid of. You give Dublin possession, turnover possession, in the middle third of the pitch and you’re looking for trouble because they’re in on top of you.
"We didn’t mind too much giving them possession from short kickouts because we got our defence set and we slowed them down but if you give them turnover possession in that area of the pitch you’re in big, big trouble. It was a great finish by Costello to be fair but turnover ball is a killer against the Dubs.
"That’s why I’m saying we had a lot of knocks, a lot of setbacks, a lot of things going against us but we have a good bit of work done. Tony Griffin has worked an awful lot with the boys on the mental side of the game. Staying resilient, when you get setbacks, just driving on to the next ball or whatever and it took all that focus and resilience to keep going."
"I might be able to pass on a bit of advice to, you know, avoid all the noise, the outside noise, and just concentrate on getting a performance. If that's a help, so be it
Kerry's leading forward David Clifford delivered a bravura first half performance, slotting 0-06 before the 40th minute, four of which came from play. Thereafter, his influence waned slightly, leading some to wonder about his witness. Though the Fossa man did come up trumps at the death, earning the last minute free.
O'Connor disclosed that Clifford had trained only intermittently since the 11-point win over Cork.
"He jarred his ankle and it was swelled after the Mayo game. He basically didn't train for the following week. But he did a bit last Tuesday. And we did a little bit Thursday, but it was some performance by him considering.
"He basically didn't train between the Cork game and the Limerick game. Em, I’m just trying to think of the timelines … he has missed a good bit of training. I’d say minimum he’s missed a month’s training in the last seven-eight weeks."
Galway now stand between Kerry and a first All-Ireland title since 2014, the Tribesmen eventually seeing off Derry in a cagey semi-final on Saturday evening. The pair last met in the decider in 2000, Kerry ultimately prevailing after a replay, O'Connor then serving as a selector under Ó Sé.
"I watched maybe a half of it (Galway-Derry) yesterday. We were coming up on the coach at the time. Obviously, Galway are a very good footballing side.
"I am not going to start building them up here because I have too much to think of from our own side. They obviously have one of the top full-forward lines in the country.
"Comer is a seriously dangerous operator. They fairly demolished Derry who had a good system going. That will be a big ask, but we'll think of that tomorrow.
"It's an ecstatic dressing-room at the moment, but we'll have to get the boys down to a level ground again. You can imagine the Galway dressing-room a couple of weeks ago when they beat Armagh in an epic. So, they have had a similar enough experience to us, but we have to do a lot of work on the boys in the next couple of weeks to convince them this job isn't done, this job is far from done."
