Former Donegal captain Kevin Cassidy was on Tuesday’s OTB AM to give his prediction for this weekend’s clash between Kerry and Donegal.
While Cassidy is a proud Donegal man, he thought his former side would be second best in Croke Park on Sunday.
“I don’t know if we’re really at the level to beat Kerry yet this weekend in Croke Park. Personally, I think it’s going to go down to the last game in Castlebar.
“Can we beat Kerry? Yes we can, but I think Kerry will have a little bit too much for us this weekend,” Cassidy said.
Donegal have been in impressive form this year and finished strongly against Meath last weekend. However, Kerry’s convincing defeat of Mayo have made the Kingdom favourites for topping Group 1 in the Super 8s.
“I think Kerry will seriously test young Patton this weekend. They’ll press his kick outs and you know, we’ve been using that as our platform so it will be interesting to see how we can deal with that as well.”
“The question I have for Kerry is their backline, are they tight enough? Those three guys have to be man-marked. Murphy has to be taken completely out of the game, likewise Paddy McBrearty and Jamie Brennan. Have Kerry got three guys to do those jobs? We’ll soon find out.
“If you do take them out of the game it’s a massive chunk out of our armoury. If you don’t, those lads will do damage,” Cassidy commented.
Are Donegal defensively fragile?
Donegal’s attacking play has been the envy of many sides in this year’s championship but their defence has been suspect at times, which will be a major worry going up against a side with the likes of David Clifford and Paul Geaney up front.
Cassidy however, was confident that Donegal would be able to adapt to combat the attacking flair that Kerry have at their disposal.
“This weekend will test us, there’s no doubt about that. Kerry have an extremely talented forward line but we’ll see where we are after this weekend. I don’t think you can read too much into the Meath game.,” Cassidy explained.
Donegal and Kerry face off in Croke Park at 4pm this Sunday in what is shaping up to be the game of the weekend.
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