Ruthless Kerry will not take Tipp lightly - Fitzmaurice

Eamonn Fitzmaurice says it's in the Kerry make-up to be ruthless when they face underdogs ahead of the Kingdom's Munster SFC semi-final against Tipperary on Saturday afternoon.

The reigning All-Ireland champions are fully expected to get past the Premier and progress to a decider against either Limerick or Clare, who clash in the other last-four tie.

The last time the Tipp footballers beat Kerry in Munster was back in the summer of 1928.

The counties met in the 2016 provincial final, when Kerry prevailed by 3-17 to 2-10, but Tipp have lost some quality players recently including Bill Maher [currently lining out with New York], the injured Conor Gleeson and Michael Quinlivan, who has gone travelling.

A huge challenge therefore becomes all the tougher, but Kerry will not be dwelling on the misfortune of their opponents, Fitzmaurice warned.

"The Munster Championship... it was looked down on," the former Kerry manager told the RTÉ GAA Podcast.

"To be fair, Tipperary, Clare and Cork were all kind of a similar standard there for a while, which was a decent standard. They'd actually do quite well in a lot of provinces but because they were coming up against Kerry year in, year out, they weren't able to make that bit of progress.

"I think we played Clare nearly every season there for a while in Munster semi-finals. They never got to go to the other side of the draw and possibly make a Munster final.

"Tipperary have [lost key players]. They were a good team.

"This weekend, Kerry are going to win. But within the Kerry camp they are going to be very focused.

"They're going to give Tipperary 100% respect and 100% attention. That's the way we always approached those games regardless of the opposition or even the team winning. You're thinking