Mayo manager Mikey Moran has pointed to the emergence of Ciaran Donaghy as the reason behind Kerry’s form this year.

However, he insisted that Mayo would play their own game against the Kingdom.

Moran said the lack of baggage himself and trainer John Morrison had in relation to Mayo football has been largely responsible for their successful campaign.

“We swept the floor clean, had trials and wanted to get our own team,” he said. “There was a tremendous enthusiasm within the county from all the clubs and players. John for me is the most innovative coach in the country.

“It went from hundreds down to thirty. But we’ve also had lads outside the panel who’ve helped us, training nights whenever lads couldn’t make it.”

But Moran insisted that the new training methods would not have been successful if it was not for the players.

“We wanted to get a group of players together who would buy into our training, buy into our methods of doing things and work together in partnership at training because that’s where the work’s done,” he said.

“The biggest plus is that we’ve got together a group of lads, who are number one dedicated, very open minded and work very hard with us together.”