Colm Cooper: It's very hard to see anyone beating Dublin

Colm Cooper has said he finds it “very hard" to see Dublin failing to retain Sam Maguire as the spine of their team is stronger than Kerry’s.

The five-time All-Ireland winner believes Kerry are the team with the “best credentials” to scupper Dublin’s seven-in-a-row charge, but added that question marks continue to hang over the Kerry defence and said management still haven’t figured out their team.

“It is very hard for me to see Dublin not winning this year because if you look down through the Dublin team, you have Ciarán Kilkenny, you have Con O’Callaghan, you have Brian Fenton, you have James McCarthy, and you have Stephen Cluxton," Cooper told the BBC’s ‘The GAA Social’ podcast.

"That is the spine of the team and as long as that is there, I still think they are better than everyone else.”

“Defensively - that’s where Kerry's flaws are. From 8-15, we are as good as anyone, and it’s probably unfair on the individuals, but as a team, they conceded a couple of goals above in Thurles in the League against Dublin, that’s still the flaw. There’s no doubt about that.”