Paul Grimley is backing Kildare to beat Down in Sunday's All-Ireland football semi-final.

The former Armagh All-Ireland winning coach, who was Kieran McGeeney's assistant in the Shortgrass County for two years before taking up a similar role with Monaghan this year, told the Irish Times: "On Sunday I would say Down will be a wee bit more stressed (than they were against Kerry), there will be more pressure on them to deliver. Who knows how they will react.

"This is the first time these boys are in an All-Ireland semi-final. The only man who has been in a semi-final is their manager, James (McCartan). First-time experiences are a big test, dealing with that is as important as the match itself. Tactics are great but look at Dublin last Sunday.

"The Dublin players will have to get used to this over the next 10 months. They will be held up as an example of how not to close out a game. With five minutes to go Dublin were in an All-Ireland final. They probably believed themselves they were in the final. But panic set in and they gave away three, four silly frees.

"The next thing they are not in the All-Ireland final. A lot of it is about composure. When you have the ball, keeping the ball. When you don't have the ball, being organised and not panicking, not giving away silly frees because in the matches that are tight free-kicks will win them."

And Grimley is in no doubt that Kildare are better equipped to take on Cork in the All-Ireland final.

"Kildare (are better equipped) for two reasons: they have the size and physicality to combat Cork and they have a good record against Munster teams - although Cork beat them two years ago in the quarter-finals. They were leading comfortably but Kildare got back into the games."

He continued: "I think the biggest single thing with Kildare over the last couple of years, since Kieran (McGeeney's) been involved, is you can see the mental strength coming through and improving all the time," he said. Tweet

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