"Whoever wins this will fancy themselves going forward"

June 19, 2026

Armagh's Joe McElroy and Joe O'Connor of Kerry ©INPHO/James Crombie

Armagh’s 2002 All-Ireland winning manager Joe Kernan says whichever team wins this weekend’s crunch All-Ireland SFC Round 3 clash in Killarney will fancy themselves to go all the way this summer.

Tomorrow afternoon will see Kerry welcoming the Orchard men to Fitzgerald Stadium (throw-in 4pm), where both teams will be fighting to keep their season alive and advance into Monday morning’s quarter-final draw.

Speaking to BBC Sport NI this week, Kernan, who steered Armagh to their maiden Sam Maguire Cup triumph 24 years ago, says the Ulster champions will need to dig deep against their Munster counterparts.

"Every game from now until the final is a final and this is the biggest game of the year," said the former Armagh boss.

"It's in Killarney, [winning there is] something we've never done before I believe it can be done. Ever since we won the Sam Maguire in 2002, everybody has said you need to beat Kerry in Dublin and we did that.

"In 2024 the same thing was done, so this is even bigger as whoever wins this will fancy themselves going forward."

The Crossmaglen man added: "Kerry will try to take Armagh players out of the game, so we have to do the same thing. We have to make sure every ball that goes into David Clifford, he has to fight for it and that means the people out the field have to work harder.

"Jack Charlton used to say, 'put em under pressure' and whoever is on the ball has to be put under pressure. With the extra space in there, there's room for three or four forwards to get in which is extra pressure for your defence, so we can't afford to give them easy shots."


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