A PHYSICAL test had to be passed, by Kerry and Gavin White, before and during this All-Ireland Senior Football Final – and also a mental one.
The Dr Croke's clubman scored the point which left gallant Galway needing a goal in added time, a remarkable achievement given that he had feared missing out on this decider altogether.
Skipper Sean O'Shea, scorer of the dramatic winning free against Dublin in the semi-final, sealed the deal with another placed point, and White admitted that this was the sort of game the Kingdom would have let slip in the recent past.
"The big thing is, we are able to grind out games. We said it after the Dublin game two weeks ago - maybe once upon a time we might not have got through that game. Likewise today we mightn't have got through.
"We have probably learned that as a group over the last couple of years. We did leave games behind us, we didn't get through them. That is a big thing from a players' point of view.
"Mentally upstairs we got a bit tougher on ourselves. Inside in the dressing room everyone is able to call themselves out. That is a big thing. In particular in the Dublin game, we would have lost that game a couple of years ago."
White also paid tribute to the input from an Armagh man, Jason McGahan of the Tullysaran O'Connell's club, who leads Kerry's fitness regime:
"Today too, we were just able to grind it out, grind it out. It is a credit to our S & C [strength and conditioning] programme with Jason McGahan and all of the lads that in the fourth quarter and over-time we are able to push on, and the subs that came on they pushed it on. That is definitely a thing for me that we are able to grind it out."
Obviously Kerry winning to end their eight-year wait is what mattered most, but White was understandably delighted personally to play a full part in the triumph, having gone off injured late on against the Dubs:
"It was a rocky couple of days after that Dublin game because I wasn't quite sure what the extent of the damage was to the knee."
The c-word – 'cruciate' – was whispered, and it was close, White admitted: "Initially I didn't think so, but after further analysis there was a chance it could have been.
"It was fairly sore going on the bus [after the semi-final] so there was a chance, you don't really know with the knee, in particular.
"There is always that fear factor when you do anything with the knee. So naturally enough there was a chance, but I'm forever grateful that I got that bit of luck, and that I was able to play today…
"Thankfully I was able to get back into training on Tuesday, I had a good session Tuesday.
"Thankfully it wasn't the cruciate or anything like that so I was fine. I was able to get through the game and training pain-free. Thankfully I was able to play on the biggest day of the year."
Much has been expected of Kerry, especially after winning five consecutive Minor All-Irelands 2014-18, with White on the 2015 winning team, but he insisted that they've shown they can deal with any such pressure:
"We have been in the game long enough that you have to block those things out, to focus on your own game-plan, stuff like that…
"We always knew if we hit our targets and played to our best potential we were going to be well in there. That showed in there today."
