Tyrone boss says Laois in with a chance of causing an upset

MICKEY HARTE believes the winner of Saturday’s clash of Kerry and Armagh will succeed his Tyrone side as All-Ireland champions.

“I fancy Armagh but you could make a strong case for Kerry,” said the Tyrone manager, who admitted that he would love to see either Donegal or Armagh keep the Sam Maguire in Ulster.

“If Kerry beat Armagh I would fancy them to win the All-Ireland. Dublin might make the final from the other side but I would see them losing to either Armagh or Kerry.

Whatever the results over the next two weekends, Harte seems convinced that the eventual champions will not emerge from the other side of the draw which contains Dublin, Westmeath, Mayo and Laois.

Paul Caffrey’s side are favourites to make it through from that grouping, but while Harte doesn’t see Laois winning the All-Ireland outright, he has a sneaky suspicion his own side’s conquerors may be in the shakeup on the last day.

“They could beat Mayo and they would love a shot at Dublin in the semi-final after what happened to them earlier this year. I’m not ruling out a final place for them but I think they will have to keep raising their game if they are to get that far.”

Harte’s preference for Kerry or Armagh is understandable, considering the jousts his side have enjoyed against each of them, but former Armagh captain Jarlath Burns feels his fellow countymen “deserve” to land the Sam Maguire.

Though retired a number of years now, Burns is still heavily involved in the GAA at administrative level as well as being a high-profile print and TV media pundit in Ulster.

Still in contact with many of the current panel, the Silverbridge clubman has been taken aback by the determination with which Joe Kernan’s panel have gone about repeating their triumph of 2002.

“Since 1999, there have only been two years where the All-Ireland winners haven’t been Armagh or a team that beat Armagh on the way. My heart is speaking over my head maybe but I just feel this group of players deserve a second All-Ireland. I’ve never known such focus from any group of fellas. The personalities of Kieran McGeeney and Paul McGrane are stamped on that team to an extent I’ve never seen before.”

Kerry will be hoping that the repositioning of Kieran Donaghy into full-forward will reap as many benefits as it did against Longford in the qualifiers and Burns will take more interest in his performance than most.

The Armagh man coached the Underdogs side that defeated Kerry in Austin Stack Park in Tralee in December of 2004. Donaghy excelled at midfield that day and a recall to the Kerry seniors wasn’t long in following.

“Kerry put in a very good performance against Longford but they’ve been poor all year up to that,” said Burns. “I have a horrible vision of Eoin Brosnan flying past Ciaran McKeever and putting the ball through to Kieran Donaghy.

“I know Kieran very well from my days with him on the Underdogs. I can see a lot of ball going in very high but Francie (Bellew) has been around a while and he will know what’s coming.”