Former Mayo footballer Andy Moran has drawn on first-hand experience to demonstrate what Kerry must do if they are to seriously challenge Dublin in this year's championship.
Two years retired from the inter-county game, the 2017 Footballer of the Year Moran was assessing his Kerry namesake David when thoughts turned to his own final years with Mayo.
Alongside Paddy Andrews on OTB's brand new The Football Pod, the lads considered what would need to be in place for Kerry to legitimately pose a threat for the reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin.
Unsurprisingly, getting the best out of David Clifford, Paul Geaney and Kerry's forwards will be high on the agenda. To achieve that, both highlighted the importance of David Moran.
"The temptation now would be to play Jack Barry and Diarmuid O'Connor in the middle of the field," suggested the Mayo legend, "but for me, they shouldn't do that.
"You have to put David in there because you need to be getting the ball into [Clifford and Geaney]."
Up against "aerobic freaks" like Brian Fenton and James McCarthy in the Dublin field though, they accepted that Peter Keane may not necessarily get the best out of his 32-year-old midfielder asking him to chase either of those Dublin players.
Andy Moran reckons there could be a solution to that problem from his own career, however.
14 September 2019; Brian Fenton of Dublin in action against David Moran of Kerry. Photo by Sportsfile"I was out of the team, a five-minute man," recalled Moran of his dwindling status in Mayo at the mid-way point of the 2010s.
"The gods were looking down on me then and I just got in for the Kildare game [in 2016] and the most important player in my career then became Jason Doherty."
A few months shy of his 33rd birthday, it was no longer feasible for Moran to even think of challenging certain defensive players in terms of relentless running.
"Doherty literally did the running for me," he explained, "[because] if Dublin's Davy Byrne starts running with the ball, there's absolutely no chance of me catching him.
"I don't think if I was driving a Ford Fiesta I could've caught him!"
When Byrne would seize on an opportunity to take the ball and move forward, Moran was allowed the respite of passing him over to Doherty once he crossed the 45.
"All of a sudden now," he noted, "I'm back in the full-back line marking maybe Jack McCaffrey who is there covering for Davy Byrne."
😂 'If I'd driven a Ford Fiesta after Davy Byrne I wasn't catching him'
🏐 'As good as Geaney is, Clifford is still the main man.'
Andy Moran & Paddy Andrews assessed how Kerry's talented forwards can thrive 🟢🟡
LISTEN TO THE FOOTBALL POD ➡️ https://t.co/5z1XkORXH1 pic.twitter.com/pjC2PFLaNq— Off The Ball (@offtheball) May 13, 2021
To maximise Kerry's capabilities going forward this year, the Mayo legend believes Peter Keane should look to implement a similar system that offers some protection for David Moran.
You can listen to the first episode of the brand new THE FOOTBALL POD with Andy Moran, Paddy Andrews and OTB's Tommy Rooney right here
