Mayo great and top pundit Kevin McStay says his money is on Kerry to ‘put an end to Dublin this year’.
The former Roscommon boss is confident the Kingdom will come in 2021 – ending Dublin’s seven-in-a-row dream.
The Sunday Game analyst was on TV commentary for December’s All-Ireland final and believes Dublin haven’t necessarily improved despite clinching the six-in-a-row.
Kerry were surprisingly beaten by Cork in Munster and McStay tipped them, along with Donegal, to come roaring back with a big point to prove this year.
Speaking on Midwest Radio’s Sunday Sports Show, McStay said: “From this position, my money would absolutely be on Kerry to win the All-Ireland.
“There’s a lot of football to be played but look what happened last year – Kerry are the Galway of Munster, they ended up with nothing.
“They won the League at a canter and then they got caught on the hop against Cork.
“I was doing that match actually, a filthy horrible wet day. Even playing badly they had the game won and then Cork got a late goal and Kerry are gone, no safety net.
“There’s no safety net again this year which is the one thing that could catch any team but I firmly believe that the Kerry team will put an end to Dublin this year.
“I just don’t see the improvement in Dublin, Dublin have been so good but they haven’t moved on, they beat Mayo in the All-Ireland without getting to anything like the standards they did in previous years.
“They won it well and deservedly so and all of that but the coming team are Kerry.”
McStay was recently chatting with former Mayo manager and current Donegal coach Stephen Rochford and picked up a strong desire to succeed.
He said of Donegal: “They let themselves down badly in the Ulster final.
“They’re a year behind their plan, as are Kerry, and that’s why I think a huge effort will come from Kerry and this knock-out Championship will suit the likes of them as they’ll get through them fairly lively, get to the All-Ireland semis and then pair off and see how it goes.”
Dublin’s preparations haven’t been helped by a three-month ban picked up by boss Dessie Farrell.
Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney suffered the same sanction for a similar breach of Covid guidelines by players.
McStay said of the suspensions: “They’re the ones that got caught, that seems to be the sin. But it has sobered up a lot of the, what I’d call, eejitry, people trying to gain a few inches with an extra week’s training or two.
“It was silly, very silly, way beyond silly of course. The hope now is that they’ve copped on to themselves.”
