'Luck' and 'experience' helped us through - O'Connor

Kerry manager Jack O'Connor felt "experience" and "a bit of luck" saw his side book a return to Croke Park for the All-Ireland SFC final following Sunday's win over Dublin.

Four points was the difference by full-time, but it could have been different had some calls went Dublin's way.

Sean O'Brien appeared to be inside the small parallelogram before the ball he fisted to the net for Kerry's second goal, while replays suggest Ross McGarry's own fisted attempt may have gone over the line before being cleared midway through the second period.

However, it was the defending champions who were just that bit more clinical with their opportunities and while David Clifford - despite scoring 1-5 - a had a quieter game by his standards, Kerry had others to step up.

"We certainly got a bit of luck at times, no doubt about it," O'Connor said.

"Look at the teams they [Dublin] have beaten. If you said six weeks ago any team that beats Donegal will win an All-Ireland, so Dublin have come good at the right time.

"They won the toss and played into the Hill in the second half, which is an intimidating sight for any team to be facing, so I thought our boys were brave throwing bodies on ball, definitely got a bit of luck and got a few scores on the break.

"It took a bit of experience as well as we held onto the ball for periods to kill a bit of Dublin momentum."

O'Connor disagreed there was any debate over the penalty his side were awarded in the second minute when Joe O'Connor went down under a challenge by Peadar O Cofaigh-Byrne, insisting "it was a frontal tackle and a frontal tackle is a free anywhere".

Clifford found the net after his initial effort was saved and that goal was a big score playing into a fairly telling breeze in the opening period.

With the elements in their favour in the second period, Kerry were able to shoot from further out and that two-point ability was crucial by the end.

"There was a significant wind," O'Connor noted.

"It was hard to score into the Hill today. It was hard yesterday [in the Mayo v Louth semi-final] and it [wind] was stronger today, so maybe it would be a bit easier to score into the Canal End [Davin Stand] and score two-pointers.

"I think we got three in the second half and that was the difference."