Seán O'Shea: Doubters and team spirit fuelled Kerry win
O'Shea's unerring accuracy in front of the posts saw the Kenmare Shamrocks clubman finish with a personal haul of 12 points as the Kingdom ended Armagh's Sam Maguire defence on a 0-32 to 1-21 scoreline.
The forward's stellar display saw him named man of the match in a last-eight encounter that Armagh were favourites to win.
Seán O'Shea said there was a special energy in Kerry this week at the thoughts of playing Armagh
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"As soon as we saw the draw last week, it was one of those weeks where you're struggling to sleep," the 26-year-old admitted.
"It's the last thought when you go to bed every night and when you wake up every morning.
"There was a special energy in the group this week.
"We were written off. People weren't giving us any hope, even back home.
"But we've a really tight group. Nobody knows what goes on in our dressing room. The fellas that are inside, we love each other. We're just a really tight group and I think that showed today.
"We asked the crowd to get behind us as well and they really made a difference in the second half."
Their outsider status ultimately proved liberating for a side more accustomed to being overburdened by expectation and O'Shea admitted: "We just said that we'd throw the shackles off and just go out and express ourselves.
"We were coming in as underdogs here today. Armagh were obviously incredible All-Ireland champions and they were flying all year and we knew the challenge.
"But that second half, we really turned the screw."
If Kerry's performance was one forged out of adversity, their shock round-robin loss to Meath may have been another apparent negative that eradicated complacency and sharpened their focus.
Jason Foley felt a "great sense of satisfaction" from Kerry's performance today.
He described their loss to Meath as a reality check. pic.twitter.com/ybEi2mqyCL
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 29, 2025
Full-back Jason Foley told RTÉ Sport: "We got a bit of a reality check and we went back to the drawing board and worked on a few things.
"Since then, our training and performances have improved and we're just delighted that we were able to get a performance out there today."
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