They came within touching distance of back-to-back All-Ireland SFC titles but, according to Jack O’Connor, Kerry never really got going all year.There were many reasons for that, with the main one being injuries. However, O’Connor reiterated his belief that club competitions within Kerry, which run on late into the calendar year, take a significant toll on his county players.That could partly explain the lack of chutzpah exhibited by the defending champions from the second quarter onwards, with O’Connor continually circling back to one word, and lamenting the lack of it – energy.“Obviously it wasn’t the ending we envisaged after a tough enough year,” said O’Connor. “But you have to take your hat off to Mayo. I thought they had more energy than us, more legs, more hunger, even though we fought hard to the end and could have snatched maybe a draw and taken it to extra-time. One or two passes just went astray near the end. But I thought that on balance, Mayo were better than us on the day.”After a tentative opening, Mayo hit Kerry with everything they had, turning the middle third into a battle zone and rolling over green and gold jerseys with Panzer tank-like efficiency.Mayo’s powerful press on the Kerry kick-out, which meant that Shane Murphy only hit a colleague with 15 of his 25 restarts, was significant too.“Well, we knew that was coming,” said O’Connor of Mayo’s high press. “We didn’t have a whole pile of time to prepare for that type of stuff because we basically had maybe two, two and a half sessions to prepare for it. They brought that and more. In general, I just thought they had more energy than us.”But why?“Sure, that’s the 50 million dollar question,” O’Connor said. “I just thought on breaking ball and stuff, it showed at times.[ Kerry player ratings: Clifford brothers impress but too many fall below usual high standardsOpens in new window ]“It possibly goes back to some of the stuff I was talking about in the last few weeks, that we’ve had men that have had long periods out of football this year.“Gavin White was out of football for six months. Seánie [O’Shea] was out of football for 10 weeks, Joe [O’Connor] eight weeks. Brian Ó Beaglaoich had a stop-start kind of a season. Paudie Clifford the same; he missed a good chunk of the league. On All-Ireland final day, coming up against a hungry, energetic Mayo team, I feel myself that was a factor.”Kerry’s misfortune around injuries continued into final week with Tony Brosnan and Diarmuid O’Connor the latest to suffer knocks.Brosnan’s injury was made public in advance of the final but news of O’Connor’s hamstring tweak and unavailability came as a surprise, having been named at wing forward.“Tuesday,” said Jack, explaining when the injury occurred. “Innocuous enough. It wasn’t as if we were going too hard on Tuesday. It was a very handy session, but it was just one of those things.”Mind you, with 16 minutes on the clock and Kerry leading by 1-5 to 0-1, everything appeared to be going swimmingly with the holders apparently on course for a first back-to-back of All-Ireland wins since 2007.[ All-Ireland final key moments: Kobe’s 45 put Mayo on the road, Ryan O’Donoghue’s two-pointer took them homeOpens in new window ]“We only hit our straps, I’d say, two or three times this year,” said O’Connor, who listed out their championship highlights.“The second half below in Killarney against Armagh, that was us at our best. We played great football in a league game above in Armagh as well, in the first half.“But we just weren’t consistent enough. We possibly got a bit of luck against maybe Tyrone, and possibly a bit of luck against Dublin. And sometimes your luck runs out. Mayo might have got one or two breaks today, so it balances itself out. But overall it was a year where I thought we played in fits and starts. That’s a fair summation.”