Shane Ryan insists Kerry ‘won't be happy until All-Ireland is in the dressing room' after quarter-final win over Armagh

The Irish Sun

a day ago

SHANE RYAN insists that Kerry's raid of the Orchard will count for nothing if their Sam Maguire bid does not bear fruit.
Kingdom boss Jack O'Connor
2
Shane Ryan warned Kerry have to win the All-Ireland after beating Armagh
Credit: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
2
Kerry saw off the All-Ireland champions in the quarter-finals
Credit: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
The Munster kingpins were castigated following a wretched display in a nine-point defeat to Meath two weeks earlier.
And O'Connor felt his side were subsequently 'written off' ahead of their
revenge
mission against an Armagh side who pipped them to a place in the 2024 decider.
Responding to the criticism, Ryan said: 'I suppose it's no more than when you're getting praised. You have to block it out as well. We kind of know ourselves in the
dressing room
what we're capable of.
'We were obviously disappointed a couple of weeks ago against Meath with our performance and we set about trying to rectify that and clean up a few areas. We've gone a long way to doing that. We've another few levels to go.'
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Although a short kickout to Dylan Casey malfunctioned as Armagh netted the game's only goal, Ryan's overall contribution to the 0-32 to 1-21 victory was huge.
The 2022 All-Star goalkeeper said: 'Look, it's the nature of position. It's high-wire and any mistake I make is going to result in a score. You'll try and put them out of your head straight away and just focus on the
next
play.
'But I think with the new rules,
the games
are so chaotic, there's so much happening. There are so many mistakes, teams are getting purple patches, they're losing them, there are two-pointers and the game goes on for so long as well that you just don't have a chance to dwell on the previous play.'
Tiernan Kelly and Cian McConville were both forced to settle for points after Ryan brilliantly pushed their goalbound efforts over the bar.
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The Rathmore man, 29, plagued
He also kept out a Cronin penalty after the break.
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Asked if his shot-stopping ability is getting better, Ryan said: 'I'm not sure really. I'm just trying to improve in all the basics of goalkeeping.
'I mean, goalkeeping is a simple enough game — your kickout, your high ball, your shot-stopping
work
. You try to take little bits from other keepers as well.
'But I suppose it helps that I face the best finishers in the country in training every night. They're not long exposing any weakness that I have too and even talking to them helps me as well.
'It's something I'm constantly trying to improve on.'
Those finishers certainly showed their flair as a razor-sharp
Ryan recalled: 'We actually had a poor start to the second half. We just seemed to pin them in for about a 15-minute period. More importantly, we took our chances when they came around.
'We're delighted, but we're also very cognisant that it was a quarter-final and we won't be happy until the canister is sitting in the dressing room.'
Kerry had an axe to grind following the agony of last year's semi-final.
They were five points to the good, only for Armagh to storm back and prevail after extra-time.
NEW GAME
Reflecting on last summer's meeting, Ryan said: 'We were well in that game and probably in control of that game for large
Ryan also hailed the Kerry fans for the role they played at Croker on Sunday after Clifford sent out a rallying call for their backing following the win over Cavan.
The keeper said: 'We had great Kerry support there and we wanted to give them something to shout about.
'They were fantastic for us and hopefully we'll keep it going now for the next few weeks.'
With Paudie Clifford, Micheál Burns and Evan Looney all making big impacts off the bench, Kerry aced the test of their strength in depth to set up Saturday week's semi-final against
Tom O'Sullivan is a new concern after being forced off in Sunday's first half. Paul Geaney, Mike Breen, Tadhg Morley, Diarmuid O'Connor and Tony Brosnan also did not feature, while Barry Dan O'Sullivan is out of the rest of the season.
But Ryan said: 'It's a panel effort and any team that's won an All-Ireland over the last number of years or won a big
Championship
game, it's been 20 players that have won it.
'We're going to be no different.'