7 v 7 out the field.
Can Mayo keep out Kerry’s attack?
Can Kerry’s attack stop Mayo’s running power from defence?
August 20 is Mayo’s date with destiny. Again.
When you’re Mayo in fairness, every day is a date with destiny.
Now they’re 70 minutes from another All-Ireland final though and it feels like they’re back to the side who has widely been accepted as the far and away second best team in Ireland in recent times.
A Kerry opposition is never going to relax anyone really but this Kerry team have something about them. They have swagger. They have ruthlessness. They have steel. And they have a Division One league title behind them too.
How many of them would make the Mayo team?
@TheGAAHour @ConanDoherty @Woolberto Kerry favourites for semi. How many kerrymen would you put in a combined mayo/Kerry team?
— bryan mcginty (@askillb) August 8, 2017
That was the question put to The GAA Hour and here’s the best answer we could muster.
David Clarke (Mayo)
Has been doing it for so long now. Known as one of the best shot-stoppers but his ability to stop points is becoming increasingly hilarious and his kickouts have been absolutely brilliant this year.
Brendan Harrison (Mayo)
Really making a name for himself as the stickiest of corner backs. As sharp across the ground as he is biting in the tackle.
Fionn Fitzgerald (Kerry)
Tough, game, very, very smart. Doesn’t mind a foray forward either so he’ll fit well in this defence.
Keith Higgins (Mayo)
Half forward, sweeping, man-marking, Keith Higgins doesn’t care where you play him, he’ll hit you hard and he’ll drive up the field as if he was on a moped.
Lee Keegan (Mayo)
Obviously.
Donal Vaughan (Mayo)
Kerry’s Tadhg Morley and Peter Crowley can probably count themselves unlucky but Vaughan should never have been kept out of the Mayo side and the replay with Roscommon proved just that. A warrior, an athlete, a leader.
Colm Boyle (Mayo)
Paddy Durcan in with a shout but Boyle has been there and done it. He’s been hurtling his body into men for as long as Mayo have been competing at the top.
Aidan O’Shea (Mayo)
Rediscovered himself out around the middle. He’s a monster.
David Moran (Kerry)
There’s no-one that does this position better than him and Fenton.
Johnny Buckley (Kerry)
Brains and brawn.
Cillian O’Connor (Mayo)
If he wants to play on this team, he’ll have to make do on the 40′.
Donnchadh Walsh (Kerry)
The text book wing forward.
Paul Geaney (Kerry)
The complete inside forward.
Kieran Donaghy (Kerry)
The complete target man.
James O’Donoghue (Kerry)
The completely ridiculous speed merchant who runs past boys like they’re cones and splits posts like they’re 50-feet wide.
