Eamonn Fitzmaurice says Clare have been disrespected ahead of their All-Ireland quarter-final date with his Kerry side.

The general consensus is that the Kingdom have been granted an easy passage to the last four as they won the Munster title by beating Clare and Tipperary and are now due to take on the Banner County for a second time, but Fitzmaurice points out that Clare - and Tipp - are in the last eight on merit:

"Both teams have gone on to show the quality they have," the Kerry boss is quoted in The Irish News. "I was thinking about it this morning actually. Of the teams that played in Division One this year, only two haven't been beaten by a team from a lower division - ourselves and Dublin.

"The other six have all been beaten by teams in lower divisions. I think that shows the work that is going in by some counties, particularly in Clare and Tipperary, the progress they have made and the wins they have had. 

"There was a reaction after the weekend results, when it was confirmed that we were playing Clare, words like 'farcical' were being used and that we were inside in an All-Ireland semi-final without having played the game. Again, I found that disrespectful to Clare, in particular, given they had got to an All-Ireland quarter-final on merit, having played three tough games."

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