Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

All is not as it should be in the Kerry camp ahead of this weekend’s semi-final, writes Emmet Moloney...

Life is about attitude and if Mayo’s is right this Sunday then they have a good chance of beating Kerry. The Dublin hurlers showed last Sunday that if you go out onto that hallowed turf “switched on”, then no matter who you are playing you can put it up to them. That’s the test for James Horan and that’s the key to Sunday.

Be it hurling or football, every team at the top level has a chance if they arrive onto the field totally tuned in, poised to give everything. Marry that to smart use and protection of the ball, clinical and committed defence when you don’t have it and anything can happen. There’s a chink in the Kingdom and a good team will exploit it.

The whole of Kerry knows that all is not well within their camp. This appears to be an ongoing symptom of Jack O’Connor’s management. It is rarely all quiet on the western front with him. He brings an edge and hardness to Kerry’s set-up, something that he obviously feels Kerry lacked before his arrival into management with them. The psychologists will trace this back to the Kingdom’s consecutive losses to Meath, Armagh and – especially – Tyrone, in 2003. For some strange reason the feeling within Kerry, home of serial All-Ireland champions, was that the county was not tough enough!

Since then we have had some “toughness” added to them. Under Jack O’Connor they have definitely achieved on the field, indeed his record as manager stands with the best of them, but at what cost?

There is a bitchiness and a physicality around O’Connor’s team that is not and was never the Kerry way. Colm Cooper is now a constant complainer on the field, Tomás Ó Sé’s disciplinary record has spiralled out of control, Paul Galvin’s behaviour has never really been addressed, merely excused, while Tadhg Kennelly’s revelation that he set out in the 2009 All-Ireland final to “do” his Cork opponent at the throw-in simply confirmed the way Kerry were thinking.

As someone who lived in Kerry for a number of years I know there is an element of disquiet about all of this. The proud Kingdom like to win All-Irelands above anything else, but they were used to doing it with football, with style and with abundant sportsmanship. It is an undeniable fact that some of this gloss has been lost under O’Connor.

The south Kerry-based manager promotes the siege mentality and fair play to him; he’s in a results business and he delivers Sam Maguire two out of every three years he is at the helm. Hard to argue with that. But here goes.

Of all the counties in Ireland, Kerry, along with Kilkenny in hurling, have no real reason to adopt the chip on the shoulder mentality. But under O’Connor they do. Kerry won All-Irelands with wonderful teams in recent years – teams that played football but teams that weren’t pushed around physically either. Under O’Connor, Kerry tend to start as well as finish the aggressive stakes.

What a pity. The football they are capable of playing, with players of the quality of Declan O’Sullivan and Cooper can be breathtaking, as witnessed in the first half of the Munster final. Paul Galvin’s various soap operas over the past few years are not the Kerry way, while Tomás Ó Sé is a marked man with all referees, a shame considering his raw footballing talent. But Ó Sé has earned the attention.

Squad unrest
Within the past few weeks the word from the Kerry camp is of unrest within the squad. Despite their march to an All-Ireland semi-final, the centre-back position is apparently a cause for concern. Despite manning the position on his return to the squad this summer from early retirement, Eoin Brosnan’s spot appears to be under threat. Some speculators had Brosnan abroad on holidays over the past week or two, not even attending training! The truth? Well, that’s only available from inside the camp and they’re fairly tight lipped at the moment. Either way, Michael Quirke, a squad member who was used already in the championship as a substitute, quit the panel after his team reached an All-Ireland semi-final. That’s unusual and not a good sign.

So, instead of cruising quietly into a semi-final against a team that they are expected to beat comfortably, once again the Kingdom have questions over their preparation. Under Jack O’Connor this is a common enough occurrence and one that obviously suits him and his squad. The siege mentality approach is a common enough one around GAA teams, but in Kerry? Surely it’s a little contrived.

In the opposite corner we have Mayo, the county all neutrals would love to see advancing to and winning an All-Ireland final. There is no doubting their football, character or will to win – just their ability to get that done.

Unlike so many footballing counties waiting for the breakthrough, Mayo have proven plenty of pedigree over the past 15-odd years. They have beaten Kerry in an All-Ireland semi-final (1996), they have beaten Dublin at the same juncture (2006), beaten then champions Tyrone in Croke Park (2004) and three weeks ago they shocked the reigning All-Ireland champions. This is what gives them justifiable hope for Sunday; Mayo can be a potent bunch in the last eight or the last four – it’s finals that they struggle with.

They can beat Kerry on Sunday because they are improving with every match, they have fitness to burn, confidence is high and they tend to have enough possession to win most games. They just have to score. That’s all. Sounds simple enough. Nineteen points and they could do it.

But Mayo’s biggest stumbling block is - naturally - themselves. Entirely frustrating for their supporters, they struggle badly to put two good performances together back-to-back. Strangely, while beating Cork, they missed far too much and still scored 1-13 – a total that won’t be enough to see off Kerry.

To win games like these Mayo have to take eight out 10 chances, take the green flag when it presents itself and not lose their nerve in front of goal. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it? But will it happen?

Well, it can happen. There is a hole in Kerry. There are questions about their defence and midfield. A repeat of Mayo’s second-half performance against Cork and this game goes into the last five minutes. But wishing it so is not enough. Despite the guaranteed commitment, Enda Kenny’s support and the new jerseys Mayo will bring to Croke Park on Sunday, I just cannot see them scoring the 2-13/1-16 needed to put Kerry away.

The world will just have to wait Mayo’s breakthrough senior All-Ireland. And that is a pity.To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Irish Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...