Kerry duel is set to be really competitive: James McCarthy

Old rivals Dublin and Kerry have served up some enthralling contests in recent seasons and Dublin's James McCarthy is expecting nothing different when the Kingdom come to Croke Park this Sunday (4.0).

The sides met twice in last year's league - a draw in Tralee in mid-March before Kerry edged Dublin out by a point in the NFL Division 1 final in Croke Park a few weeks later.

“Obviously it’s a glamour fixture,” says James. “It could be a really competitive game when you see the way they’re coming with a really good team.

"They have a bunch of players from four All-Ireland minor teams, so they seem to be bedding in really well.

“They’re young, they’re brash, they’re going to want to take you on. The few clips I’ve seen, they look very good players and they physically seem ready for it - Seán O’Shea, Dave Clifford are big lads so it’s a good challenge and a good barometer. Both teams will go at it hard.

“Obviously you don’t want to lose ... we’re going to try and win the league, try and win every game, and obviously Kerry is a bigger game than most.”

Reflecting on last year's NFL1 final defeat the Ballymun Kickhams man says that it was a reversal that was sickening but perhaps refocused the squad.

"We were going for our fifth league in-a-row, so I remember afterwards it was a horrible feeling.

“We probably didn’t taste that feeling for a while - and maybe it was no harm tasting that, the bitter feeling.

“We deserved to be beaten last year, we’ve no complaints about it.

“We took a break for a few weeks after, played a bit of club football, got back together ... and maybe it sharpened the focus again for the summer, just tidied up a few things that we needed to.”