In his first year as a former Kerry footballer, David Moran admits that adjusting to watching matches as a fan has been tricky on occasion.
Especially when things weren't going to plan back in the group phase.
"I almost feel like a family member to the lads," Moran told RTÉ Sport.
"I've known them so long, I'm only out of it a year. If one of the lads isn't playing well, you'd just be hurting. No more than a family member would be, I assume. It is difficult to watch.
"But the last day against Tyrone, everyone was playing well, Kerry were playing well. It was great to watch. You'd just love to be going into the dressing room after the final whistle."
Moran announced his inter-county retirement in late January, a couple of weeks after a majestic display in Kerins O'Rahilly's surprisingly narrow All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kilmacud Crokes.
Six months earlier, Moran had landed his third All-Ireland medal, after an uncomfortably long gap of eight years since Kerry's previous title. In the process, Moran matched Tipperary hurler Declan Ryan in achieving the curious distinction of winning three All-Ireland medals in three different decades.
While Kerry had been running hard at an All-Ireland final since bringing Dublin to a replay in 2019, Moran insists that it wasn't a case of hanging around until another Celtic Cross arrived. There were other factors in play in his decision to step away.
"I probably thought I was going to finish at the end of '21. But we got to a county final and I got injured. And by the time I got back, I was in good enough shape to keep going into training. It just made sense to keep going.
"I didn't win the All-Ireland (in '22) and say, 'I've it done now, I can retire'. There was part of me saying that it'd be great to win another one. But as I said, it wasn't just a football decision.
"It was a decision I had to make bearing other factors in mind. That probably made watching the games a little bit easier and made me more comfortable with the decision.
"It wasn't 100% a football decision. We'd a second child in February. We're busy with CSG (accountancy firm) in work.
"It wasn't just a case of look, can I go in and make a difference? Obviously, that's a factor. If I thought I wasn't going to be able to make a difference, it would have been no decision. I would have been left behind.
"I had to weigh it up. Work, young family, football, I just didn't think I could keep it all going. At this stage of my life, what was I willing to suffer?
"I felt it wouldn't be fair for my family or work life to suffer any more. Football had to give.
"I had a great career. I was there 15 years, made great friends. Had such highs and lows. It wasn't just a case of do I want to win an All-Ireland medal?
"Weighing it all up, this was just the best decision for me."
"I had to weigh it up. Work, young family, football, I just didn't think I could keep it all going. At this stage of my life, what was I willing to suffer?
There was little pain or anxiety for Kerry fans during the second half against Tyrone, the All-Ireland champions dismissing their noughties bogey team with extreme relish in the second half.
Having entered the game on the back of some stodgy and unconvincing displays, the 12-point win - decorated by two brilliantly taken goals after half-time - over the 2021 champions massively burnished their All-Ireland credentials.
Moran reckons some of the commentary about their early summer performances were shown to be a touch alarmist.
"Like every Kerry person, you're a bit apprehensive going into the game because there's been such a fantastic rivalry between the two teams. The guys played so well and you'd moments of magic, it was brilliant to watch.
"I thought people were being a bit... not kneejerk... but I was saying these are the same really talented players that were there last year. I don't think they were going to become bad players overnight."
Colm Cooper last week suggested that Jack O'Connor had managed the new format cleverly, with Kerry having underwhelmed with heavy-legged displays throughout the league and the All-Ireland group phase before bounding into the knockout series in top form.
Moran isn't inclined to argue that Kerry were tailoring their programme in order to peak for late June/July.
"A lot of it can be made about that. I don't think Kerry went out to lose to Mayo because they weren't peaking. I wouldn't have said training would be tailored - now I could be wrong - that they wouldn't be peaking at that time.
"It's just sometimes that you hit form at the right time. As you go on in the year, the standard goes up. And I believe that the Kerry players are of a huge quality and you'd be expecting that they'd be able to survive at a higher level.
"When you win, you've a couple of months of enjoying the win. You're the hunted. People have extra motivation to try and take you down. I think that's across every sport.
"These are so hard to win. Winning an All-Ireland is so hard so winning it back-to-back is an extremely difficult task."
In particular, the quarter-final performance marked a stunning turnaround from Kerry's painful 2021 semi-final ambush at the hands of the same opposition.
Manager Peter Keane was deeply morose in the press conference afterwards, and was jettisoned as manager shortly afterwards. Moran's clubmate Tommy Walsh's final act in a Kerry jersey was swinging a desperate late attempt at an equaliser under pressure in the dying seconds of extra-time.
Moran himself - as noted above - had intended to retire before hanging on for another tilt.
In the off-season, Jack O'Connor returned from Kildare for a third stint with Kildare, bringing with him an Tyrone-born coach - Paddy Tally - synonymous with iron-clad defensive systems.
"We conceded three goals that day (in 2021) and we didn't score ourselves," Moran recalls. "There was a stat that we conceded 2-05 from turnovers. You're not going to win a game on those numbers.
"And it wasn't as if we lost by 10 points in '21. We lost by a point after extra-time. It was a very close match. We were probably very reliant on David and Seanie for scores whereas there was a better spread the last day.
"Bringing Paddy (Tally) in was a great decision. He's really good at his job. If you lose an All-Ireland semi-final conceding three goals, it's definitely an area you're going to work on."
Earlier in the campaign, with Kerry shipping a loss to Mayo in Killarney and labouring past Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the narrative was that Moran's loss was being acutely felt in the midfield.
The narrative has vanished in the aftermath of the Tyrone game, when Diarmuid O'Connor, now 24, delivered a man of the match display, expertly slotting home Kerry's opening goal.
"He's a phenomenal talent, he's won two All-Ireland minors. He's all the skills, he's a really good athlete," says Moran.
"Anyone watching the Kerry county championship, he's dominated it around the middle. People were probably getting a little bit impatient because they saw the potential.
"Look, it's unrealistic that someone at 21 or 22 is going to dominate an inter-county midfield at the latter stages of the year. He's a good age now, he's got all the tools. He's a really good work ethic. I think it's exciting times for Diarmuid, he showed the last day what he can do.
"He's a great partner in Jack Barry, I played a lot of football with Jack Barry. He was real easy to play with, a great teammate and great guy to be soldiering with in the middle. The two guys are club mates so they were probably delighted to see me gone."
Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship semi-final, Dublin v Monaghan (Saturday 5.30pm), and Kerry v Derry (Sunday 4pm) this weekend on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
