Walsh: When Kerry are tested, it might be too late

A different year but the same fears for Kerry, as they prepare for the All-Ireland series following another all-too-routine spin through the Munster football championship.

Since their league final demolition of Mayo placed them as clear favourites for the All-Ireland with the bookies, Jack O'Connor's side have played just two competitive games, a reasonably comfortable win over a game but inexperienced Cork outfit in Páirc Uí Rinn and then an extremely one-sided victory over Limerick in the Munster final.

Those counties navigating the Ulster bear-pit tend to have limited reserves of sympathy for Kerry's plight.

But it remains a nagging concern for Kerry that the current weak state of the Munster championship does little to prepare them for the pressure of the later stages (how weak it is may now be open to question given that there are still four Munster counties alive in the Sam Maguire race).

The recently retired Tommy Walsh acknowledged the danger, saying that Kerry, again, may have to deal with being "undercooked" heading into the business end of the season.

"It's a big enough fear to be honest," Walsh told RTÉ Sport at the launch of Guinness 0.0's new GAA campaign.

"It's probably hard for Kerry to know exactly where they're at. That's no disrespect to the teams they've played. But those teams haven't been up around the business end over the past couple of years. The worry would be when you are tested that it's nearly too late at that stage.

"But from Kerry's perspective, it's gone to plan so far. They've had two decent wins. Both Limerick and Cork put up a bit of a challenge at the start of both games but they (Kerry) were able to kick on and win the game relatively comfortably.

"They've done everything they could do behind