For Kerry, it’s simple: no drama and a 40th All-Ireland can be theirs

All-Ireland SFC final: Kerry v Mayo, Croke Park, Sunday, 3.30pm – Live on RTÉ 2 & BBC TwoAre All-Ireland finals ever this straightforward? The almost regretful consensus that Kerry will inevitably win this weekend’s final surely can’t simply materialise as uncomplicatedly as bookmakers’ odds and punditry are forecasting?Unfortunately, from a Mayo perspective, it happens quite often. Kerry are favourites for good reason. Defending champions, they convincingly won last year by ramping up performance levels in Croke Park and delivering a season’s best display in the final.Now, the same management in charge of much the same players is back on the big day. But rather than facing an existential challenge, such as many believed Donegal posed 12 months ago, Kerry are confronted by unexpected opponents who scarcely featured on the radar as recently as a month ago.The All-Ireland hurling final a week ago provides indications of what can happen when an experienced team with medals in their pockets take on rising newcomers. Limerick’s crushing win over Galway can be spun either way: the inevitable outcome of that scenario or a further cushioning of Mayo as outsiders.READ MOREIf that implies Kerry are vulnerable to the assumptions of complacency – fair enough – but it is more likely that, for Jack O’Connor and his crew, the hurling final just hardened the belief that if they work as hard as they should in the biggest match of the year, they are likely winners given their other advantages.The exaggerated jumpiness of the champions in the face of perceived “disrespect”, as evidenced by O’Connor intervening in the “bridesmaid” advertisement controversy, tells its own tale.Mayo’s semi-final against Louth may have been bloodless, but they had been well tempered in other All-Ireland matches against Monaghan, Tyrone, Meath and Cork. Tight matches are tight matches regardless, and the lessons learned are valuable.Balancing that, the only other Division One team Mayo played – given Monaghan’s relegation and Meath and Cork having played in the second tier this season – was Tyrone, who beat them.That match in Omagh is significant because Mayo were only narrowly edged out and it’s one formline through Kerry that gives reason for optimism. Tyrone ran the champions as close as possible without quite looking like they would actually win, but they also lost out to a couple of controversial refereeing decisions.Mayo's Kobe McDonald was in flying form against Louth. Will he be able to bring that energy against Kerry on Sunday? Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho There are other lines of optimism. Kerry’s full back line has not looked waterproof, whereas Mayo’s full forwards were rampant against Louth, the sharp, youthful corners, Darragh Beirne and the phenomenon that is Kobe McDonald, were individually irrepressible and shepherded most effectively by the in-form Ryan O’Donoghue.Since the dismal beating by Roscommon, Mayo have been on a consistently upwards trajectory. Can they accelerate or at least maintain that? John O’Keeffe, the distinguished former Kerry player and coach, was a football analyst with The Irish Times for many years.In advance of the 2013 All-Ireland final, in Jim Gavin’s first year, he urged caution as Dublin’s exuberant young guns - Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion and Ciarán Kilkenny - faced into their first senior final either still in or just out of their teens.He had played his first final in 1970 as a teenager and, frankly, said it had passed him by, the frenetic movement and tension of the occasion making him focus on survival more than anything more impactful.All three of the young Dublin players had been replaced with 30 minutes to go, and only Mannion, in early exchanges, was injured. Yet, all three went on to have extraordinary senior careers.All that can be said with certainty about Sunday is that it will be a big challenge for Beirne and McDonald to replicate their semi-final form in the pressure cooker intensity of the All-Ireland final.On a more practical level, how well supplied will they be? All year, Mayo have lacked a traditional centrefield presence, something that’s even more important in these days of the new rules. They can argue that Louth’s very strong middle third also edged the battle of the restarts but lost by 17 points.For all the resolve to dominate the breaks, that’s not easy when Kerry have the O’Connors at wing forward, as well as Paudie Clifford roaming around the breakdown and also the pace of Gavin White tearing through.Kerry's Gavin White has been handed the number seven jersey for the final on Sunday. Picture: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho All of which is to leave the biggest question marks until last. David Clifford comes into the final yet again as the football of the year front-runner. In that form, he has rarely disappointed on big days.His management of the final kick-out in the Tyrone quarter-final was exemplary, reading the break, directing the play and providing the assist for the goal that put a flattering veneer on the scoreline.His menace is so constant as to be almost unremarkable, as well as unmarkable. He has added a rallying element to his performances, working the crowd and getting them involved as he lays waste opponents.David Byrne did a good job on him for Dublin in the semi-final but, as ever, it was a co-operative effort as it will be for Mayo. Byrne is a vastly experienced defender with eight All-Ireland medals. Clifford still shot 0-5 from play to go with his goal from a penalty rebound.Seán O’Shea is fully restored after injury and he too poses a serious scoring threat, whereas Dylan Geaney, relatively quiet against Dublin, still took until his 19th attempt of the championship in an All-Ireland semi-final before he missed a first shot at goal, having racked up 0-22.It’s not that they’re unopposed and Jack Coyne, if not quite at last year’s levels, is an accomplished corner back, whereas Eoin McGreal brings pace. At full back, Donnchadh McHugh is expected to be handed the Clifford brief, with another speedy defender Enda Hession a possible match for the brother.Sam Callinan and the excellent David McBrien will make sure the middle third is well contested.These are all best-case scenarios for Mayo to be as competitive as possible because, if they are not going to win, the future of the team demands a respectable contest with the potential to return as contenders.Kerry, though, have a single-item agenda: be the first county to win a 40th senior All-Ireland. Expect that box to be ticked.