O’Neill forced to miss All-Ireland final

It will be a case of the All Blacks rather than the All-Ireland for Martin O’Neill on Sunday — but he admits he’d dearly love to be in Croke Park.

Speaking at his latest Irish squad announcement yesterday, the manager explained: “Roy (Keane) got some tickets to go to the All Blacks versus Argentina at Wembley on Sunday and I said yes because I’d forgotten about the All-Ireland being the same day and, genuinely, I would love to have gone to the game.

“I think it will be a really great game. Dublin did well to beat a resurgent Mayo in the second game when you might have thought at one stage that Mayo had the upper hand. Kerry are just always strong.”