Kerry's joint-manager Declan Quill thought it was the end when the Kingdom came up short in the All-Ireland final against Dublin last year.
It was the second year in a row that Kerry suffered final heartbreak after falling to Meath in 2022, it was all too much and the tears were bitter.
"There was a lot of emotion after the All-Ireland final, we felt that we had messed it up again.
"My young lad Adam was bawling. I was bawling. Maybe it was time to move on," he said.
Quill and his co-manager Darragh Long took a break following the defeat to Dublin, but following a squad barbeque at captain Siofra O’Shea’s parents' home, the pair decided to stay on.
"We got talking and the older players said they’d stay on. That was vital. Without them we would have walked away. They’d bring the younger players on board again."
The decision to go again has proved successful so far, and Quill is now looking forward to a third successive All-Ireland final where this time they will come up against Daniel Moynihan’s Galway.
"We ended up in the league final nearly by accident, but our main aim was to hit the ground running in nearly every Championship match and build towards Croke Park on All Ireland final day.
"There was no guarantee that it was going to happen, but we’ve come through some tough games and have come out strong at the end of them," he said.
Quill, who is now in his fifth year as Kerry’s joint manager, said his and Long’s side will be facing a vastly experienced Galway side with players who carry a lot of threat.
He said: "We saw the second half and extra-time of their game against Dublin, and I thought they were fierce fit and they were stronger than Dublin at the end of that game.
"We saw a good share of the first half when they played Cork; we had a team meeting ourselves and we came out and watched a lot of the second half as well.
"They’re very controlled and they use the ball very well. They don’t give away the ball that often. They do a lot of running with the ball and they do a lot of off the shoulder stuff. Their attackers like to come out on the loop and kick scores.
"Galway are a very experienced team as well and a lot of those girls have been to an All-Ireland final in 2019.
"They’ve been in All-Ireland finals with their clubs and they were in the Division 1 final last year as well, so it’s a good, experienced Galway team that we’ll be facing."
Quill said that the importance of building a strong panel cannot be understated, and that Kerry are lucky with the group they have.
He said: "We believe in our panel. More often than not we use our five subs.
"We see girls that are performing in training, and we give them their chance. We saw Fay O’Donoghue coming on against Waterford and then coming on for Kayleigh Cronin against Meath.
"People say that’s an awful big call with Fay’s inexperience, but we see her performing night after night at training marking Emma Dineen and doing brilliantly.
"You’ve got to use your panel and you’ve got to use the girls that are performing, and that will be the same when we sit down to pick a team, and what girls are to come on."
"Galway are going to be a massive test. There is no doubt about that. Hopefully we’ll have prepared well enough to get over the line at the third time of asking," he added.
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