Sunday, February 28

Allianz Football League Division I**

Down v Kerry, Páirc Esler, Newry, 2pm - Deferred coverage on TG4

It would be foolish to get too caught up in the past when assessing the meeting of Down and Kerry in Newry, but doubtless there will be one or two romantics to be seen, not to mention some wistful reunions, when the old bluebloods meet this weekend.

Original royals of Gaelic football, their rivalry is mythologised on the strength of Down's glorious record against the mighty Kingdom. Five championship games, five wins - the years 1960, 1961, 1968, 1991 and 2010 are burned into the collective consciousness of Down GAA.

Discard the nostalgia, and this is quite a big game for both counties. They are both still pointless after two rounds and two defeats in Division I, and the loser in Newry will be right in the relegation mire heading into the decisive weeks ahead.

Down lost heavily to Donegal in their opener (3-15 to 0-7) but improved somewhat in the loss to Monaghan (0-13 to 0-11) three weeks ago. Kerry were sluggish and lethargic in their opening round defeat to Dublin at Croke Park (2-14 to 0-14) and they were simply outfought in Round 2 by a hungrier Roscommon, who came down and raided Fitzgerald Stadium with a stunning 0-14 to 1-10 victory.

Kerry were considerably understrength in their opening fixtures, and the three-week break has seen the gradual return of some of their big guns. Colm Cooper, Marc Ó Sé and Kieran Donaghy are back in the reckoning this weekend, while Bryan Sheehan is back from club duty with St Mary's, as are a number of new Kerry panellists from the recently crowned All-Ireland Intermediate champions and Templenoe, the All-Ireland Junior champions. They are still without James O'Donoghue, Peter Crowley, Paul Geaney and Anthony Maher, though.

Éamonn Fitzmaurice was relatively phlegmatic this week when discussing Kerry's slow league start, bemoaning their lack of a regular training facility during the winter months - and looking with relish towards the opening of their centre at Currans - while noting how little training they did before the start of the league.

"The last couple of weeks has impacted on preparations because we’d have preferred to have more good quality football played but it just hasn’t been possible,” he said. “The two defeats so far were disappointing, but we must be realistic and acknowledge we didn’t have a huge pile of training done. The frustrating thing about the Roscommon game is with a small bit more, we could have won it and it would have made life a good bit easier, but we don’t tend to make things easy for ourselves.”

As poor as Kerry's start has been, the prospects for Down have looked much bleaker. Morale was at a real low for Éamonn Burns' side after the big defeat to Donegal in Round 1, and while the performance against Monaghan was considerably better, the Mourne County have a lot to do on Sunday if they are to convince the doubters they have the stomach for the fight needed to retain their Division I status.

Uncertainty still reigns over the 2016 roles of Benny Coulter, Martin Clarke and Conor Laverty, all for different reasons, and Down have been noticeably short of attacking power so far this year, a situation made worse in the Monaghan defeat by the absence of Ryan Johnston and Paul Devlin through injury and Donal O'Hare through suspension.

The last time these sides met was in 2013 in Division I, when Kerry recorded a 0-11 to 1-5 win in Tralee. Their last game in Newry was a league game in 2012, which Kerry also won, 0-14 to 0-8.

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