Mayo icon feels Kerry’s Achilles heel will see them lose to Armagh
Kerry secured their place in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals, after their preliminary, 3-20 to 1-17, win over Cavan on Saturday.
Monday’s All-Ireland draw for the quarter-final pitted the Kingdom against the current champions Armagh. The Orchard County avoided the preliminary’s by finishing top of group 4.
The mouth-watering clash sees Jack O’Connor’s side go up against the team that has been labelled as the one to beat by some.
Mayo icon, Colm Boyle, isn’t too optimistic about Kerry’s chances against the All-Ireland holders.
He feels injuries to the likes of Kerry stars, Diarmuid O’Connor and Paudie Clifford, and a loss of form to others will play heavily against them.
One man who hasn’t suffered any loss of form is forward David Clifford.
With a championship total to 7-37 so far, O’Connor will have to rely heavily on his main man to produce on Sunday for any chance of victory. The former Mayo All-Star believes if Clifford isn’t able to then Kerry’s All-Ireland run may be over.
Boyle said: “So that brings me back to David Clifford. Never have Kerry relied on him more coming into a big championship game than they do this weekend.
“It’s virtually impossible for them to beat Armagh without him shooting the lights out.”
He added: “People will point to Kerry’s struggles in the qualifier run in 2009 and then how they exploded into life against Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter final.
“That was a Kerry team that contained greats like the Gooch, Declan and Darren O’Sullivan, Paul Galvin and Márc and Darragh O’Se. That team wasn’t as reliant on one player as this one is on David Clifford.”
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