Johnny Buckley always believed that Kerry could win this year's All-Ireland senior football championship.

The Kingdom's chances were all but written off outside the county when they lost Paul Galvin, Tomas O Se and Eoin Brosnan to retirement followed by Colm Cooper to injury, but Buckley insists the players never lost hope:

"After a couple of bad league performances we were tested," the Dr Crokes clubman comments in The Irish Daily Mirror. "But Eamonn and the boys did instill a belief in us that we could win it.

"We trained very hard during the year. Just talking to a couple of the other lads, everyone said it was one of the most enjoyable years they've had. They loved coming up to training.

"There was a great camaraderie among players. We always definitely knew we had the potential. We put the head down, worked hard and knew we'd come close."

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