Former Armagh footballer Aaron Kernan was on OTB GAA on Monday and spoke about the crucial upcoming clash between Mayo and Donegal.
Mayo eventually saw off Meath on Sunday after a tight affair saw the sides level at half-time, while Donegal’s draw with Kerry means both sides have it all to play for in Castlebar in a couple of weeks' time.
“It’s a game that I think everyone in the country will want to see. It’ll be absolutely packed to capacity and there’s a bit of rivalry between the two teams.
“Everything’s at stake in it. So to have a knockout game of that magnitude in a provincial venue, I think it’ll be top class,” Kernan said.
While Donegal are still unbeaten in this year’s championship, injuries to key men have seen their chances of reaching the semi-finals reduced. They put in an excellent performance nonetheless against Kerry, but Kernan believes that they’ll need their best in action to put one over Mayo in Castlebar.
“I really couldn’t put a call on it at this stage… to progress to the semi-final and the stage and the pressure that it’s at, you probably need as many of your top men there.
“In fairness, [Paddy] McGrath and [Neil] McGee, they’re so experienced and so assured and composed in the backline. They’ll be huge losses if they’re not back in two weeks time,” Kernan commented.
Mayo have plenty of injuries of their own to worry about and that coupled with fatigue from so many games on consecutive weekends have seen the Westerners put in a couple of shaky performances in the Super 8s.
“For me, probably the issue with Mayo is that they don’t seem to be clicking. You could’ve seen, not really patterns of play, but they had more outlets in the half-forward line whenever they were really going well.
“Now, granted, Lee Keegan’s struggling for a bit of form, probably because of the ankle injury. Colm Boyle, granted had a good game yesterday and pushed a wee bit more forward than what we had previously seen and Paddy Durcan is missing for them.
“So they are huge losses because that’s where a lot of their scores would’ve come from,” Kernan said.
The final round of the Super 8s takes place in two weeks time, with one of Mayo and Donegal likely to miss out on the semi-finals. With Dublin and Tyrone already qualified and Kerry hot favourites against Meath, all eyes will be on MacHale Park in Castlebar.
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