Four-time All-Ireland winner Mike Quirke was on Thursday’s OTB Drive For Five special and spoke about the belief there is in this young Kerry team.
The Dubs are strong favourites to win the five-in-a-row on Sunday and while Quirke doesn’t disagree with that he has faith his former side could pull off a major upset.
“I think that’s the one difference between Kerry and all those other teams. Even Mayo with how good they’ve been. Kerry will go into this game believing they’re the ones who can actually stop Dublin.
“There will be no inferiority complex. Most of those guys haven’t even played against this Dublin team. Clifford and all the rest of them haven’t played against them in the championship at the top, top level,” Quirke said.
Dublin put in a magnificent performance early in the second half against Mayo which left fans wondering if Jim Gavin’s men could be stopped.
While Quirke was equally stunned by how good the Dubs were against James Horan’s men he felt that Kerry showed enough promise to give him hope.
“We were depressed walking out of the ground about how good Dublin were. We thought, ‘Why are Kerry and Tyrone even playing tomorrow? Because this crowd are so far ahead.’
“Yet when Kerry produced that second half against Tyrone that optimism started to build slowly.
“There’s a real buzz about it down here now because everyone appreciates how momentous this final could possibly be. One way or the other the winner is going to make history,” Quirke said.
Dublin started slowly against Mayo and found themselves trailing at half time. The former Kerry player feels that the Kingdom have enough killer instinct to make the All-Ireland champions pay should they have a similar lapse in form.
“They will believe that if enough stuff goes right for them that they’ll have a chance.
“If Dublin come out and play like they did against Mayo and Kerry play as well as they’re capable of they’ll be up by more than the two points Mayo were up at half time,” Quirke said.
The action kicks off at 3.30pm in Croke Park this Sunday and will live long in the memory regardless of which side comes out on top.
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