How to kill a pro with Protection 4 diamond set before he eats his enchanted golden apple?

Once they eat an enchanted golden apple. They become very hard to kill, they have like 1 stack of them. They also have good swords (Sharp V, Fire aspect II, Unbreaking III). I can brew and use potions but even strength II and Speed II together, don't seem that effective.

My server uses 1.8 battle mechanics

Too bad there is no splash milk to purge the opponents.
Anyway, it's pretty simple in words, but hard to do in the arena.

First you need to understand what the apple actually does in order to counter it.

Absorption IV (2:00)   - 2 Hearts * Level as absorb shield = 8 extra Hearts to kill off (cannot be restored)
Regeneration II (0:20) - 0.4 Hearts / s restored * 20s = 8 Hearts
Fire Resistance (5:00) - immune to fire
Resistance (5:00)      - 20% less damage taken per level

So if someone uses the apple at full health the regeneration goes into the void. You have to kill off the absorb shield anyway, which can only be restored by a new absorb effect. They just have 8 Hearts more than you and take 20% less damage, which is doable.

So you have a few options:

• Survive. Don't go for the direct kill. You have less life (or no absorb) and direct combat gets you killed. Use the arena, look for obstacles, dance with them.
• Get an enchanted apple yourself to make it even or at least dance to buy some time to let some buffs fall off.
• Outgear them (equal gear is pretty much required, better gear helps more)
• use Splash potions for some nice debuffs or direct damage (Poison, Weakness, etc.)
• learn to move (anticipate their moves and dodge/counter them, etc.)

The more points you meet the easier it gets.
You still need to always keep them busy. PvP is like Hannibal Smith said in the A-Team movie:

Time. Give me a minute, I'm good. If I've got an hour, I'm great. You give me six months, I'm unbeatable.

1.8 combat? Auto clicker with really good armor/sword. This is pretty cheaty though. 1.8- combat was made in a way that you can be able to do this though.

Yes, I know this question is 3 years old.