The obvious follow-up question to that statement is obvious: Why does he reckon not many were giving his Kerry lads a chance?

“I don't know. I'd only hear it second hand. I don't really listen to it,” Ó Sé replied.

“We had a few games, and it is very disjointed. It is a group that is very hard to get together and get a run at. We are inside in the middle of a championship now and it is brilliant having them all the time and we are going from game to game.

“Up until that, you are talking about three months of never having your full squad. You have college and all sorts. It is a nightmare. The Munster round-robin was of benefit to us.” 

What benefited them at Austin Stack Park was every Kerry defender arriving in frugal form.

“Our main aim was to get to half-time and we'd have a rattle off them then. That particular Cork team, if you look back at all their games, they do their blitzing and scoring in the first half. That was a big focus for us, to get to half-time.

“I thought all our backs did excellently. Cian Lynch was outstanding, Charlie Keating was brilliant. We are best when we move the ball quickly. And when they did that, they did very well.

“The young lads like Daniel Kirby and Tomás Kennedy, they were all outstanding. Gearóid Evans was very good, our goalie Michael Tansley was outstanding.” 

They reached half-time 0-9 to 0-5 in front. By the seventh minute of the second period, they 1-12 to 0-5 out the gap. Luke Crowley’s fingerprints were all over 1-2 of that 1-3 burst.

“The goal, in particular, caught Cork on the hop. They never recovered from it. Unless they got a goal, we seemed comfortable enough.

“Luke Crowley was outstanding. He is very strong. He is constantly fouled. It is the big man syndrome; he doesn't get the frees. He is very direct and suits what we want to do in being direct.”