Moynihan was reacting to the Munster champions drawing Derry in the last eight, a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, a game Moynihan feels Derry left behind. But Kerry should be enthused about returning to Croke Park “fresher” as a championship that has yet to really fire for them gains altitude.
“This is going to be a really, really good test. Derry have fumbled through the group stage but you could see in extra-time against Mayo – they were the better team,” said Moynihan.
“They seemed to be getting that little bit of confidence back in again. If they look back 12 months ago at that game, Derry left that after them. Kerry played for three or so minutes, albeit at the latter stages of that game and finished very strong.
“So Derry will be very confident going back in saying, look, if we can improve on that performance, we are in with a great shot.
“It’s a great game and from Kerry’s perspective, they need a stern test. You are not going to get anyone tougher than Derry in the quarter-final,” he suggested.
Moynihan feels Derry may just have “hit a wall” after the early part of their season went so well and draws comparison with his own Kerry team in 2006 when they won the league, lost to Cork in Munster but recovered form to win an All-Ireland in his last year as an inter-county player.
“They have got over that wall now and they are really going to be going to Croke Park in a very positive frame of mind, because they are after really getting a great result against Mayo.
“With injuries and with hits and recovery for the next few days, that’s probably the only difficulty from a Derry point of view. Kerry will certainly be going in fresher,” suggested Moynihan.
Kerry’s path to this stage of the competition has been less difficult than Derry’s. Kerry have played no 2025 Division 1 opponents in their five championship games, Derry have been up against four in their five championship games.
“The group Kerry were in wasn’t a great one. There was nothing to get really excited about in the games. They went through it and the last game against Louth was probably their best performance in terms of the way they played, scoring 2-21.
“They were organised. If you look at Kerry’s avenue and Derry’s, there’s no comparison. Derry have come through more battle-hardened. There’s for and against with that. As of now, Kerry haven’t really been challenged much. The last really tough challenge that they’ve had was in the first 25 minutes against Cork.
“Kerry will be looking forward to the quarter-final because all week they’ll be saying, ‘This is it now, the gloves are off and the shadow boxing is over. The real football is coming now.’ You want to play your football in Croke Park and they’ll be looking forward to getting stuck into it because it’s been drab until now.”
Moynihan acknowledges that David Clifford has yet to really catch fire in this championship but could be timing his run.
“David has set an awfully high bar for himself in terms of the expectations from him,” said Moynihan.
“Over the last few years, there were times when it was like he could walk on water. Between the club as well last year, he was playing exceptional football earlier in the year and in one sense he nearly dragged Kerry into an All-Ireland final with his performances in Croke Park and throughout Munster.
“Obviously this year David hasn’t been going at the same level that he was. He’s still playing fantastic football but the bar is set very, very high with his standards.”
Séamus Moynihan was speaking at the launch of the 23rd annual Circet All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge which took place in Killarney Golf and Fishing Club. The event takes place on October 17-18 at Killarney Golf Club and will benefit Moynihan’s fellow Glenflesk clubman Jerry O’Leary who suffered serious spinal injuries in an accident while walking home. He is wheelchair-bound and requires intensive physiotherapy, as well as other medical support
