"Same old story lads, isn't it?" says Liam Kearns, trying to be brave in a moment of obvious disappointment. Having seen his team surrender a seven-point lead in the closing stages of the first half, the Limerick manager knows another great chance has just gone astray. And in Munster football, Limerick only get so many.

"And yeah, to be honest I think we did leave our chance behind us last Sunday," he adds, referring to the drawn match on home turf. "That was the game we probably should have won.

"But then we played another great first half there. We had Kerry in a lot of trouble. The penalty in the end of the first half was just a kick in the teeth for us. And it took the wind out of our sails.

"The pattern though was quite the same as last week. We just tired at midfield, and John Galvin, who was really causing problems at full forward, had to come back out to midfield. And again we lost whatever initiative we had, and came up short."

Kearns stops making any more excuses. He says he's proud of his team and the effort they made and from here to eternity he'll go on believing in them: "I still give my lads great credit. They tried their hearts out, and I don't think anyone can quibble about the standard of football out there.

"And I think Kerry will admit themselves that they didn't deserve to be level at half-time. If we were five or six points up that would have been a fairer reflection. And to be honest I couldn't believe that penalty. I was astonished. That was the killer. I know our penalty was very easy in the end as well, but the timing of Kerry's was a real blow.

"In the end, though, their little more experience told, and a little bit of class. Again we didn't score enough when we dominated, because when Kerry dominate they do real damage."

From here it's down the qualifying road, and the meeting with Derry. Kearns is not looking beyond that: "I said all along I'd consider my position at the end of the year. But we'll see out the qualifiers. I know it will be difficult for the players going in there though, because they believed they could win this. They're all devastated in there."

Over in the Kerry dressing-room, Jack O'Connor sits quietly over in one corner and tries to make sense of it. He's been through the full range of emotions, from near despair to certain elation.

"Sure it looked like the show was over," starts the Kerry manager. "But sure look, we've been making it hard on ourselves all year. I mean we've been up against situations like that before, but there's a lot of experience in that team, and they just kept the head.

"And Eoin Brosnan's goal before half-time really got us going, and got the crowd going, and that was crucial for us going in at half-time. I felt we were the team with the momentum then."

Throughout the second half Kerry looked like the only team in control. Almost to a man they lifted their game and O'Connor can feel Kerry have yet to hit full stride.

"I actually felt we'd turned it after 25 minutes, that players got to grips with the game. But I'd been telling them for the past three or four weeks that this was a very good Limerick team. They'd have beaten most teams above in the Gaelic Grounds last week and they were very good here again.

"But I've never questioned the battling qualities of the team, because they showed it all during the league. Like that last day against Tyrone in the league we'd a fantastic second half as well. But to be honest I'd rather it if our character wasn't tested as much, if we could try to start things a bit faster. So that's something we can work on, because we can't always be clawing our way back like that.

"And this takes some of the heat off us. And I think it will take the team on, knowing that if things are going against them they can still pull through."