BY ROYAL DECREE

Kingdom plan hatched after Meath rout as Clifford and Co move up another gear

- BY MICHAEL SCULLY

UNDER siege Kerry “battened down the hatches” to keep at bay the storm that raged after their group phase defeat to Meath.

One month later they are on the cusp of glory just one victory away from a 39th All-Ireland SFC title.

That nine-point loss to the Royals, the Kingdom's biggest in the championship since Meath's 15-point thrashing in 2001, had former Kerry stars declaring the end of the season was nigh for their team But Jack O'Connor's side roared back to cast aside reigning champions Armagh in the All-Ireland quarterfinals, then dismissed Tyrone's bid in Saturday's semifinal.

It wasn't the same shock and awe second half performance that delivered 14 unanswered second half points in 15 minutes against Armagh, but after a slow start Kerry came to life when their talisman David Clifford did.

The master from Fossa scored his first point in the 18th minute, banked 1-5 by halftime and finished with 1-9.

The men in green and gold scored eight unanswered second half points after Tyrone had clawed their way back to one point behind as the Red Hands' challenge collapsed as they converted only three of their last 15 shots.

"Yeah, I suppose after the Meath game we were all very disappointed in our performance," said Kerry captain Gavin White (inset) afterwards. "We knew that wasn't us.

"We got a bit of slack for it but we tried to keep all that out of the camp. We knew the quality that we had inside in training and we believed in what we were capable of.