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John McEntee: Mayo won't get near this well-oiled Kerry machine

Kieran Donaghy is enjoying a new lease of life in the green and gold this summer
Kieran Donaghy is enjoying a new lease of life in the green and gold this summer Kieran Donaghy is enjoying a new lease of life in the green and gold this summer

“Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.”

This is a quote wrongly attributed to Michael Jordan, although it could easily have been the motto ahead of Mayo’s most recent venture to Croke Park when they obliterated the Connacht champions, Roscommon, to seal their place in the last four of the All-Ireland series.

Their reward was a semi-final pairing against Allianz League champions Kerry.

Many commentators have put this game down as a potential humdinger which should bring to an end the raft of one-sided affairs that have littered the Championship this year.

However, I’m much less optimistic of witnessing a classic. Rather, I fear it could be an easy stepping stone for Kerry as they book a place in their 11th final since 2000.

Let’s look at the evidence.

Kerry are the model of consistency. Where most teams, including Mayo, stutter their way through the Championship, the Kingdom always perform.

Their players are battle-hardened and mentally primed to play when it matters most. If one or two players suffer an off-day, the others raise their game.

Their system is perfectly tuned and each man knows his role. Kerry made a good Galway team look every inch a Division Two side in the quarter-final, and that was with a far from fully-fit James O’Donoghue who was cleared to play an hour prior to the throw-in but only lasted 48 minutes.

O’Donoghue is an important part of arguably the most potent forward unit in Ireland.

Kerry have blistering pace in attack and, through Kieran Donaghy and Paul and Michael Geaney, size where it is needed and an abundance of skill.

Johnny Buckley and Donnchadh Walsh lack pace but their

work-rate and ability to win breaking ball is top drawer and their influence on a game is often only acknowledged when they are absent.

Donaghy poses a huge challenge to Mayo’s Ger Cafferkey, who hasn’t returned to his best form despite the management team persevering with him at full-back.

Cafferkey was sacrificed for tactical reasons in the quarter-final but will surely return to mark Donaghy on Sunday due to a lack of alternative options.

Add to this dilemma the way in which the Kerry forwards move gracefully and with precision, all of which indicates they will create holes behind the Mayo defence with some ease.

It is often reported that Mayo are excellent tacklers. This has been true in previous years but less evident in this campaign.

Galway, Derry, Clare and Roscommon each had multiple opportunities to score goals but let Mayo off the hook with wayward shooting.

Only Lee Keegan and Brendan Harrison have shown a level of consistency befitting of All-Ireland contenders.

The ability to tackle remains but their adherence to the defensive system of play is a cause for concern.

Jack Barry’s hard running from midfield, coupled with his physical presence and calming demeanour, has helped him form a formidable Kerry midfield pairing with David Moran.

I thought Galway’s height and strength in the midfield sector would trouble Kerry but yet again I got my analysis wrong.

Mayo have Seamus and Aidan O’Shea and the highly-rated Tom Parsons to compete in the air but on all evidence to date they should be prepared to survive off scraps.

Throughout the League and Championship, Kerry have kept a settled side, with the same three players being introduced as and when Eamonn Fitzmaurice determines.

On the 45-minute mark, Donaghy or Walsh will make way for Stephen O’Brien, whose introduction is choreographed in the same way as Dublin’s Kevin McManamon.

O’Brien is usually introduced to change the system of play, from intricate passing and support play to an approach whereby he runs hard and direct at the opposing defence.

Tired defenders struggle with his directness and pace, while opposing managers have often failed to think through a plan to limit his impact on the game.

It will be interesting to see if Fitzmaurice starts with captain Fionn Fitzgerald.

In most counties such a suggestion would not even be up for debate, with the captain a certain starter, but Kerry have history in this regard.

Perhaps the reason is that their on-field leader is not always the captain, given that the captaincy is nominated by the Kerry

club champions.

In the quarter-final, Galway’s Ian Burke kicked four scores from play off Fitzgerald. That won’t have gone unnoticed.

Perhaps Mayo do not have a player who will kick four scores from play, but Fitzmaurice is unlikely to take that chance.

Another key question surrounds where Aidan O’Shea plays. Will he start at full-forward or at number 11?

In the drawn game with Roscommon, his defensive frailties were exposed by Sean Mullooly but in the replay O’Shea was exceptional.

Mayo will want to keep him involved and relevant so he is most likely to be deployed out the field and he has a point to prove following last year’s disappointing performance in the All-Ireland final.

Interestingly, Kerry’s first 15 are all 25 or older. They have a conveyor belt of players coming through from the teams that won three All-Ireland minor titles in-a-row, yet none of them have secured a starting place.

Under Fitzmaurice, there appears to be a policy of nurturing talent to an elite level before exposing them to the stresses of Championship football.

This approach has pros and cons. The biggest challenge is to maintain the interest and motivation for these young men. Somehow, Kerry achieve this.

They play for fun. They enjoy their football. After that, the result will take care of itself.