Sunday was a rare occasion for Bryan Sheehan as he went into a championship match without any niggly injuries.

The 29-year-old delivered a towering display at midfield as Kerry defeated Tipperary in their championship opener at Thurles.

"I am just happy enough I am injury-free," he notes in The Irish Examiner. "It makes a big difference when you are injury-free as you are not missing sessions, you are playing more football and are getting fitter and fitter. Touch wood I can stay injury-free for the year, hopefully keep progressing and keep getting better as the year goes on.

"Tipperary really put it up to us. We knew they would. They have improved drastically over the last couple of years. We never get an easy game off them and they really made us work there. Our bit of experience pulled us through in the second half and we got the scores at the right time.

"We had prepared well. We weren't going to be caught on the hop. You can't disrespect teams like that. The day is gone when you are going to teams… we prepared for this game as we would any other; the video work, the meetings, all that went into it. We knew they were going to be tough opponents, especially in Thurles where they consistently play well.

"We prepared for this game as if it was the Munster final against Cork or as if we were playing a team like Armagh or Kildare."

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