Tyrone Have Every Chance To Beat Kerry

Mayo have had a bumpy ride to the semi-final.

Dublin v Mayo
At times they were poor in the Connacht Championship and they got a rude awakening in the Super 8s when Kerry walloped them and it wasn’t looking good for them from that point on.

They’ve regrouped since and have started getting players back. By all accounts Diarmuid O’Connor is back in the fray and could possibly play this weekend, they’ve two midfielders who are mobile, and of course they have great players like Aidan O’Shea and Cillian O’Connor.

Jason Doherty will be a massive loss to them. On the outside looking in, you wouldn’t realise how big a player he has been for them but he’s quietly going about his business and I’m sure the squad and James Horan value him immensely.

I was at the Tyrone match last week and Dublin’s second-string team impressed me so much.

The strength and depth that they possess is amazing.

Then you have the likes of Diarmuid Connolly possibly sitting on the sidelines, who breezed through his own game last week. I believe if Dublin are behind going into the last ten minutes of the game, he’ll be brought on. Mayo put it up to Dublin every time because they really push up on the goal kicks which is something they will use as a weapon this weekend.

Stephen Cluxton sets up so many plays for Dublin but the one team they have struggled against at times over the past 7 or 8 years is Mayo but do Mayo have it in them to put in the work?

You’d like to think they’ll have the adrenaline in them to give it their all but I can see no other outcome than a Dublin victory.

Kerry v Tyrone
If you compare the two semi-finals, the rivalry between Dublin and Mayo is more prominent than these Kerry and Tyrone sides. When I was playing, we had a good rivalry with Kerry and the current players wouldn’t be as familiar with each other as we were at the time.

There’s a lot of younger players in the Kerry squad now, that came through from the minors and then obviously you have the stalwarts like Paul Geaney, David Moran and Stephen O’Brien so there’s a good mix in there and they really have come of age this week.

I think it will suit Tyrone in the way that Kerry let you play football

…and don’t go as defensive as other teams especially with two players we have in Cathal McShane and Bobby Donnelly. We saw last week how much space Kerry gave Meath.

I think we could expose that but don’t get me wrong, I know Peter Keane isn’t that naïve to leave that much space in front of Cathal McShane this week but I don’t think they will overload their defence. That goes against their tradition of playing good attacking football. I think McShane and Donnelly could cause serious problem for Kerry.

Kerry’s full forward line of David Clifford, Paul Geaney and Killian Spillane are going to be a force to be reckoned with. Spillane has had some brilliant games recently.

It’s going to be a fantastic game and it’ll be more open than Tyrone games have been in the past which will suit Kerry. If we can just stop Kerry from scoring goals, I think Tyrone have every chance.