Sunday, August 11

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final

Kerry v Tyrone, Croke Park, 3.30pm - RTE/SKY

Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final is a moment of truth for Kerry’s developing young team.

They’ll find out one way or another whether they’re already physically and mentally ready to challenge for top honours or if they’ve still a journey to travel.

No-one doubts their natural footballing ability, but questions remain about whether or not they have as yet developed the required defensive nous and ruggedness.

Mickey Harte will have looked at a recording of Kerry’s most recent win over Meath and believed he has the attacking tools required to beat them.

Meath’s talented young full-forward, Shane Walsh, troubled the Kerry full-back line every time the ball was kicked in directly too him.

The in-form Cathal McShane is a more dangerous target-man than Walsh so if Tyrone can deliver a good supply of ball into him then he’s capable of making hay.

Kerry also looked vulnerable when Meath ran at them from the middle third of the field, which has been an issue for them throughout this Championship.

Running those sorts of hard lines has been part of Tyrone’s DNA for as long as Harte has been manager, so it’ll be interesting to see how Kerry will cope when players like Peter Harte, Niall Sludden, and Mattie Donnelly put on the after-burners.

Tyrone had the luxury of resting most of their first choice players against Dublin last weekend so may well come into this feeling fresher than a Kerry team who had to come through a very physical contest with Meath.

That all said, Kerry will believe they can out-football Tyrone on Sunday if they can curb McShane’s influence and match the Ulster team’s physicality in the middle third.

Jason Foley is likely to be given the task of man-marking McShane and will be helped in this task by Tadhg Morley if, as expected, Tyrone operate with just two inside forwards.

Kerry will also hope for a big performance from David Moran in the middle of the pitch, because if he can win ball and get his superb kicking game going he’ll supply their dangerous inside forwards with enough bullets to shoot Kerry to victory.

It’ll be interesting to see how Tyrone decide to match up against Moran, but you’d imagine that Colm Cavanagh will be given the job.

If Cavanagh dominates that middle third battle then it’s advantage Tyrone.

But if Moran performs like he did in the Quarter-Final series against Mayo and forwards like Sean O’Shea, David Clifford and Paul Geaney don’t lack for possession, then Kerry’s greater firepower can win the day.