Preview: Tipp footballers must be up for massive challenge against Kerry

Without a shadow of a doubt, Tipperary taking on Kerry in next Saturday's Munster senior football championship semi-final in Semple Stadium, is a real David vs Goliath scenario.

The visitors are flying having had a very good league campaign in division 1; Tipperary on the other hand are struggling having been relegated to the lowest tier following a luckless run which has seen them reach a very low ebb.

You cannot back Kerry to win this game - they are over whelming favourites and the bookies odds reflect the general thinking throughout the country - Kerry it seems will ease into the Munster Final en-route to having a right crack off Dublin for the Sam Maguire Cup.

You know, that was the thinking last year too for Peter Keane's men, but they were sucker punched by Cork at this very same stage and they never reached the provincial decider. So, that's what Tipperary will be hoping to do on Saturday also, though achieving it would seem a massively tall order.

Tipp are the defending provincial champions, but their current form certainly does not suggest that they will cause an upset on Saturday. Indeed, much of the noise emerging from the football quarters of the county relates to fears of a significantly heavy defeat and one which could set back the fortunes of the panel quite a distance. It's an easy commentary to articulate, but Tipperary footballers don't do things in straight lines, and just when you think there is a definite road ahead, they manage to take a diversion. The hope for Saturday would be that the diversion would take them down a different route to the widely predicted one.

Tipperary have form when it comes to mixing it with the big boys. Indeed, many would claim, and with much justification, that the Tipperary footballers play better against the 'big boys' when there is no level of expectation, than they do when labelled with the favourites tag. There is no danger of that tag hampering them on Saturday and in many ways Tipperary get the chance to have a free swing at Kerry - nobody expects them to win, so why not have a right go at them and come away from Semple Stadium with no regrets.

There have been many absentees through injury etc during the course of the league, but whoever takes to the field on Saturday will need to bring far more energy to the party than has been witnessed during the league. The kind of energy witnessed in last seasons campaign has just not been evident, and the one thing Tipperary cannot do, is be on the back foot. They need to be constantly moving, probing and asking questions of the opposition, because the reality is that Kerry will certainly ask questions of them.

The Kingdom forward line is lethal, but the supply of ball to them is very important too and that's why the middle third battle will be so crucial on Saturday. If Tipp could even break-even in this department it would be a major bonus, but it's also a big ask to be fair.

There has been much focus in the Tipp camp on who is not available for this game. But, they must put that aside now and focus on who is available and who is ready, willing and able to take on the visiting Kerrymen. Yes, a number of players might feel as though they have been plunged into the maelstrom - thrown in at the deep end, so to speak - but the challenge is to try and keep the head above water and not go under. Defeat is one thing, but to lose keeping the head up and still thrashing about for a lifeline is a different thing entirely.

As for David and Goliath - we all know how that story ended with David managing to get the knockout blow. But, for every David who delivers the killer punch, there are a thousand David's who end up getting slaughtered. The challenge for Tipperary on Saturday will be to produce a performance which they, and the management team, can be satisfied with; a performance which can see them turning the corner at seasons end; a performance which gives them encouragement for the campaign to come in 2022; and a performance which restores a bit of pride in the blue and gold jersey.

It won't be easy against Kerry - it never is - but lying down and accepting defeat should not be an option either. These players have stood up and were counted before - on Saturday evening they need to summon everything they have for Tipp