Former Kerry half-back Killian Young believes the Covid-19 issues in the Tyrone camp which twice delayed Saturday's All-Ireland semi-final is a "distraction" for the Kingdom.
Rather than the original three-week gap between the Munster final and All-Ireland semi-final, it is now five weeks since Kerry last togged out. Young admits that is far from ideal.
"It is a distraction," the four-time All-Ireland winner told RTÉ Sport's Marty Morrissey.
"All of that news at the time would have been distracting. So you're hoping that Kerry will stay focused during that."
The 34-year-old is predicting a "hard battle" with kick-outs key but played down the significance of Kerry's 6-16 to 1-13 win over Tyrone in the league two and a half months ago.
"I wouldn't be taking much from the league game. I think this will be a lot different this time round," said Young.
He suggested that Kerry's best approach would be to focus on their own game.
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"On form, the way they're playing football, nobody can live with them at this moment in time," he remarked.
"Dublin would have been the ultimate test and that's not there anymore so if Kerry do what they're doing on form, I'd be quite confident they can do the job. I would fancy them to win by seven or eight points.
"But I think Tyrone and that element of what they can provide as well and bring to the table, based on how they've been affected by Covid in the camp, it's going to be quite interesting.
"We don't even know how they'll be affected physically but it's going to be quite interesting on that front."
He added that the fact Kerry chose to forgo going straight into the final and opted for battle.
"I believe this fixture is very important for Kerry that they didn't get that bypass into the All-Ireland final," said Young.
"And you have to credit Kerry where they actually did have that option to go straight to the All-Ireland final and they declined and I think that shows that Kerry need that battle, need that game if you have any chance of winning an All-Ireland."
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