Kerry great Pat Spillane says he wouldn’t begrudge Mayo if they defeated his beloved Kingdom on Sunday week.

The two sides are set to clash in the All-Ireland senior football championship final at Croke Park on July 26th, with Kerry ranked as 4/9 favourites to retain the Sam Maguire Cup while Mayo are 5/2 underdogs (PaddyPower) to end their 75-year wait for the famous trophy.

Speaking on the Indo GAA podcast this week, eight-time All-Ireland winner Spillane says Mayo would deserve the celebration if they were to tear up the script on Jack O’Connor’s side at headquarters.

“I swear to God, as a Kerry person, if I'm sitting there at 5 o'clock in the Hogan Stand and I'm watching Mayo get the Sam Maguire, I'd celebrate with them. Because I'd say they deserve every fecking celebration and every success they want. I wouldn't begrudge them one minute their day in the sun.

“They're lovely people. I love Mayo as a county, and its people [...]

“Even though I've had some bad experiences, I just love Mayo people. I think of being all over the world, outside the Sydney Opera House, outside some mosque in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, outside the Empire State Building, when somebody would come up to me to hold a 'Mayo for Sam' sign.

“You know when you have a lovely little pup, and they almost hang their eyes, and the pup is looking up at you...you know when a Mayo person looks at you and says, 'Do you think we can win the All-Ireland?' And you're sort of saying, 'Ah Jesus, do I tell them the truth or do I tell them...'

“Now, I tell them the truth - they could win the All-Ireland, there's no doubt about it.

“You'd have to say, how can you sit into a car for the hundredth time the night of an All-Ireland final, after being defeated again, and you have seven hours to go to Belmullet? And they still come back every year. So, blasted great people.”

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