EMOTIONAL Eamonn Murray admitted it may be the end of an era for back to back All-Ireland Ladies Football champs Meath with star players leaving for Australia.
Vikki Wall and Orlaith Lally are heading to the AFLW after yesterday's 3-10 to 1-7 final victory over Kerry, while Emma Troy is going travelling.
Asked why he was so emotional after the Croke Park decider, Murray replied: "Yeah you have to get that losing players and stuff," he said.
READ MORE: Eamonn Murray feels his Meath side can inspire the likes of Kerry to make their own breakthrough
"You’re probably good enough to win three or four in a row, but we won't...but we’ll worry about that next week.
"They have two All-Irelands in their pocket. They will go pride and their heads up, and we wish them luck.
"And we look forward to them coming back, and they will be back. I know they will.
"But they're a very special bunch - and it takes a very special bunch to go two in a row."
Star player Wall was dismissed with five minutes to go but Meath were comfortably ahead at that stage.
"We started the year quietly, won the league without playing well but we were getting better and better," added Murray.
"But we kept the best ‘til last today - and it’s good the players didn't have us sweating at the end!
"Look at that crowd we had today by God, it's worthwhile doing it for them alone."
Midfielder Mairead O'Shaughnessy said that there was a "completely different" feel to this year as opposed to the Royals' 2021 breakthrough success.
"I know people have been saying we haven’t been playing as well this year but I don’t see it like that.
"It’s not something that fazes us. All that talk out there, there are a lot of Meath people with confidence in our ability so that was thrown around a lot.
"Other teams have gotten better. It’s more a testament to other teams than a fault of ours."
Kerry joint manager Darragh Long said there was massive disappointment in the Kingdom dressing-room after the nine-point defeat.
“We asked the girls to be no shrinking violets out there today, they left everything we had out there," said Long.
"I think Meath showed us a lot of respect, I don’t think they thought it was going to be an easy game today.
"I think we’ve proven a lot of you folks wrong over the last 12 months.
"We’ve been written off countless times in every game this year and this group has stood up.
"The 36 girls out there have put in a huge shift since the first of November last year. Myself and Declan (Quill) are just immensely proud of what they’ve done.
"I think we’ve put Kerry Ladies football back on the map."
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