Kingdom in safe Hands once more

IN THE space of just two weeks, the wheel has turned full circle for Kerry, and now they have to deal with a different kind of pressure at Croke Park today.

- BY JOHN O'DOWD

Before the All-Ireland quarterfinal against Armagh, the Kingdom were considered injury-ravaged, not in great form, and all set to bow out of the race for Sam Maguire.

Now, after 15 minutes of absolute footballing magic that we are unlikely to see repeated, by any team, for a long time, optimism has replaced pessimism in the county.

Destroying the Ethan Rafferty kick-out, scoring 12 times from 13 shots, and outscoring the Orchard county by 0-14 to 0-0 during that sensational spell, shows what Kerry can produce.

However, a lot of that performance against the reigning kingpins was built on emotion and anger after the way they had been written off.

Tyrone will require something different this evening.

Kerry still have significant injury issues. Tom O'Sullivan has joined Diarmuid O'Connor on the treatment table, Paul Geaney is still not fit to start and, according to the team lineup, neither is Paudie Clifford.

All of the chat over the last fortnight about the men in green and gold is manna from heaven for Malachy O'Rourke and Tyrone. Happy to wait in the long grass, the Ulster side are ready to pounce.

Indeed, it's fair to say that the Red Hand county have been generally under the radar all season, with all the talk of Armagh and Donegal, and Kerry, Galway and Dublin.