Although this may be a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final, spectators attending this game would be forgiven for having their attention more focused on proceedings over in Páirc Uí Chaoimh rather than in front of them at Fitzgerald Stadium.
The simple fact is that this clash is pretty meaningless unless Armagh can take at least a point from their visit to Leeside. A draw would open the door for Kerry to clinch second spot in the table, while a defeat for Cork would mean Down could snatch an unlikely place in the Division 1 decider.
Kerry come into the game on the back of a convincing win up in Monaghan. The victory came at a cost, however, as the Kingdom lost youngster David Moran for the season with a cruciate ligament injury.
The Kerins O'Rahillys clubman looked set to claim one of the midfield berths, an area which has been a persistent problem for manager Jack O’Connor since the great Darragh Ó Sé hung up his boots at the end of 2009.
Tomás Ó Sé has been touted as a possible solution to the problem, and Micheál Quirke has returned to training, but O’Connor seems no closer to finding a plausible pair than he did at the start of spring.
Down came very close to putting themselves in a strong position to reach the league final when Martin Clarke gave them a one-point lead late in the day against Dublin last Saturday. However, the Brogan brothers – Alan and Bernard – hit a goal and a point between them in the dying embers to deny the Mourne men.
Although the Ulster side are likely to miss out on another league final appearance (they lost the Division 3 final to Tipperary in 2009 and the Division 2 decider to Armagh in 2010), they can content themselves with a league campaign that offered plenty of evidence that last year’s run to the All-Ireland final was no flash in the pan.
Verdict: Kerry
