Farrell says Dubs on toes for Kerry

Dublin enter Sunday’s All-Ireland MFC semi-final against Kerry as warm favourites but manager, Dessie Farrell is certain his charges are in for torrid test.

Farrell knows all about big-time football from his days as a player, and the 1995 All-Ireland winner has had plenty of experience playing Kerry too. That experience has taught him to never underestimate any team representing the Kingdom.

“Although Kerry have lost twice already this year, that was against an excellent Tipperary side that I think got caught on the hop a bit when losing to Mayo,” reason Farrell.

“I saw them in the Munster final and they were very effective, especially in the first half. They had a few chances in the second-half that if they had taken them, they could well have won.

“Their ambitions at the start of the year would have been to make the semi-finals, so it is irrelevant to some degree how they made it here and they are very much on course, as far as they are concerned.

“They showed great resilience in getting past Roscommon in the last round and the fact that game was played in Croke Park should help them with that particular experience.

“They play a traditional brand of Kerry football with plenty of foot passing and there is a great deal of quality within their panel so we’re under no illusions as to the task that awaits us.

“We played them in a challenge game roughly eight weeks ago when both teams were, I’m led to believe, at full strength so there is absolutely no chance we’d underestimate them.”

Farrell was also in charge when a heavily touted Dublin team got mugged by Tipperary in last year’s All-Ireland final.

That result, allied with the absolute irrelevance of the form book in terms of making predictions in the minor championship this term, will have him and his players on their toes.

“The very nature of minor football, especially in this topsy-turvy year, confirms that any team can get the better of another over the course of 60 minutes.” insisted Farrell on www.hill16.ie. Lots of favourites have been knocked out of the championship so far and that proves that on any given day, you can be presented with a different number of scenarios that both the players and management need to address.

“We are naturally looking forward to Sunday and there is an awful lot at stake so that brings its own kind of apprehension within the panel. It is unchartered territory for the majority of the panel as they don’t have that bank of experience to draw upon, so we can only prepare them as well as we can and hope to a certain degree that it will be sufficient on the day.”