Tomás Ó Sé is a little bit worried about Kerry.
Although two wins and two defeats in the National League have not given the five-time All-Ireland winner too much cause for concern, he believes that Eamonn Fitzmaurice might be leading Kerry on "a wild goose chase."
Writing in his column for the Irish Independent, Ó Sé is wary of what he perceives as an undue amount of time being spent thinking about Jim Gavin's 'Beast from the East'; "There's no guarantee Kerry will see Dublin again this year beyond next weekend's meeting in Croke Park."
Cautious that Kerry may be focusing their game too squarely on a potentially decisive tie with Dublin further down the line, Ó Sé has highlighted Kerry's difficulty in dealing with the peskier sides that may separate Kerry from such a fixture:
They seem caught between a rock and a hard place, which means they remain vulnerable against these ultra-defensive teams
Although Ó Sé feels things are generally moving in the right direction, he is aware that not all Kerry supporters are equally content waiting around for Fitzmaurice's vision to come into being:
The general vibe I got from supporters was mixed. They get vexed when they see this pedestrian, lateral passing across the field that threatens nobody.
With such a wealth of young talent coming through to the senior side throughout this league campaign, a win against Dublin in the next round of the League would surely offer them the kind of assurance that could set them up for a memorable Championship.
However, Ó Sé doesn't see that happening yet:
I suspect Kerry will run the Dubs close next week but I don't expect them to win.
Why? Because no way will Dublin want to give a rival momentum. It's written into their DNA to hold teams down, to keep them in their place.
So they'll see that league game as an opportunity to compound whatever worries Eamonn Fitz might be carrying around in his head. And I suspect he's carrying around plenty.
While it far from doom and gloom for Kerry in Ó Sé's opinion, Eamonn Fitzmaurice would still appear to have quite a job to do.
