{"id":438683,"date":"2026-05-08T12:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/438683\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T12:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:29:14","slug":"paul-flynns-football-championship-predictions-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/438683\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Flynn&#8217;s football championship predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-embed=\"rte-sport-results\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/sport\/results\/widgets\/gaa-match\/1015769\/?amp;matches=1\" data-matches=\"1\">\n<p>My sense is that Cork will never get a better chance of beating Kerry in Killarney. Kerry are coming in as a patched-up side, with injuries to key men.<\/p>\n<p>Cork arrive in real form, with eight wins in the last 10 games. You feel there is a genuine opening for the Rebels, but if they are to ambush Kerry, they will need to do three things.<\/p>\n<p>1) Dominate middle third &#8211; They need to win the midfield battle. Kerry have named a strong pairing there &#8211; Mark O&#8217;Shea and Sean O&#8217;Brien \u2013 with Diarmuid O\u2019Connor at wing-forward, but Cork have shown in spells against Limerick and Tipperary that this is an area that can be a platform for their attack. If they can starve Kerry of enough primary possession, it could prove key in how the game plays out.<\/p>\n<p>2) Goals \u2013 Cork have real form in front of the goals, a clinical edge. They have eight goals in the last two games. Doing it against Kerry is a different test, but they have to be ruthless when they get their chances. They won\u2019t keep up with Kerry kicking point for point.<\/p>\n<p>3) Curtail the Cliffords \u2013 The Rebels have to find a way to limit their influence. Daniel O\u2019Mahony and Tommy Walsh are two defenders that can stifle them, have done so in the past. Stopping them getting the kind of ball and space they thrive on will impact this game.<\/p>\n<p>Absolutely there is a chance for Cork, but they have to take it.<\/p>\n<p data-embed=\"rte-sport-results\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/sport\/results\/widgets\/gaa-match\/1015750\/?amp;matches=1\" data-matches=\"1\">\n<p>Roscommon are coming into this with real momentum after their third-quarter blitz of Mayo last time out.<\/p>\n<p>They have Daire Cregg and Brian Stack to return. You hope that growing belief doesn&#8217;t get into the dressing oom, or that it doesn\u2019t weigh on them a little bit.<\/p>\n<p>Galway have a serious point to prove after the flat performance against Leitrim. They were nowhere near their best that day and that should make them dangerous, a bit like Dublin last week against Louth when people were writing them off a little bit.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"26 April 2026; Roscommon supporter Paddy Joe Burke celebrates after the Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship semi-final match between Mayo and Roscommon at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar, Mayo. Photo by Paul Phelan\/Sportsfile\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/00244a0e-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nRoscommon supporters will hope for another big win this Sunday<\/p>\n<p>They have Shane Walsh returning to fitness which is huge, with Damien Comer on the bench. Rob Finnerty up top is in fine form. The Tribes have the forwards that can really hurt Roscommon and have the players around the middle that can battle for possession.<\/p>\n<p>I believe Galway have the players that can pressurise Diarmuid Murtagh and Enda Smith that bit more than Mayo did at the back.<\/p>\n<p>Galway know how to win these games, and I think that might tip it in their scales at Dr Hyde Park.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Flynn was speaking on Morning Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the RT\u00c9 GAA Podcast on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/radio\/podcasts\/series\/20933-rte-gaa-podcast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RT\u00c9 Radio Player<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/ie\/podcast\/rt%C3%A9-rte-gaa-podcast\/id885768269\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/6mQ01Z4fUGGNa0MtfxkpvA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/radio1\/podcast\/podcast_rtegaapodcast.xml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"youtube-container\">\n<p>Watch Kerry v Cork in the Munster Football final (1.45pm) and Roscommon v Galway in the Connacht Football final (4.15pm) on Sunday from 1.15pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow our live blog on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1<\/p>\n<p>Watch The Saturday Game and The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RT\u00c9 News app and on rte.ie\/sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My sense is that Cork will never get a better chance of beating Kerry in Killarney. Kerry are&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-438683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}