The final score in Killarney on Saturday indicated Kerry had flexed their muscles, but on their way to an emphatic victory the game swung on marginal moments.Kerry ran out 13-point victors and ominously for the rest of the contenders they appear to be hitting form just as two of their main rivals exit the competition.For if Kerry entered last weekend among the lead group of Sam Maguire contenders, with Armagh and Donegal gone, they came away from it as outright favourites.For Kieran McGeeney, the long bus trip up the road to Armagh must have been full of what-ifs.As the game entered the 12th minute at Fitzgerald Stadium, Armagh led 0-4 to 0-1. At that stage they had eight shots, four points and four wides. Kerry had taken three shots, so Armagh had more possession and had completed more attacks – they would have loved at least two more scores, but, all the same, two good early indicators of where they were at in the game.The Ulster champions had won their first two kick-outs while also getting hands on around 50 per cent of Kerry’s restarts. So, as Ethan Rafferty prepared to take Armagh’s third kick-out, they were in good shape.Rafferty went for Gareth Murphy out near the O’Connor terrace sideline. Initially, Murphy looked to have collected the ball, but under pressure from Mike Breen, it ultimately squirted from his grasp and went out for a Kerry sideline.Suddenly, Armagh were in trouble. The structure of their defence and the match-ups weren’t what they wanted. Jason Duffy was in the full-back line and found himself having to mark Dylan Geaney. They were vulnerable, and Kerry spotted it immediately.With 11.42 on the clock, Breen took the sideline to Graham O’Sullivan, who in turn played a lovely measured pass to Geaney inside the large arc. Geaney immediately sliced open the Armagh defence with a beautiful reverse ball to David Clifford and Kerry were in on goal. When Clifford nestled the ball in the net, the clock showed 11.55. Two quick kick-passes and suddenly it was a draw game.Kerry’s Paul Geaney celebrates scoring a goal just before half time. Photograph: James Crombie/INPHO The difference between retaining or losing that kick-out was so marginal. Murphy was a half-yard from holding the ball and orchestrating another Armagh attack. But, instead, Armagh had conceded a momentum-swinging goal.You can’t just take one stat and use it as the reason for victory or defeat. You look at several factors – it’s like a waterfall effect – but certainly completed attacks is a hugely informative piece of data. Primarily you hope to be scoring, but if not it at least it gives you the opportunity to contest a resulting kick-out.Efforts dropped short or turnovers typically result in shots off at the far end of the field by the opposition. These are very hard to defend because you are out of your structure and scrambling back.As turned out to be the case for Kerry’s second goal. As the game approached half-time, Jarly Óg Burns’s handpass was delivered too low to be collected cleanly. Instantly, Kerry smelt blood.It was 34.41 on the clock when O’Sullivan chipped the loose ball up to Jason Foley inside Kerry’s large arc. Foley looked downfield, spotted Armagh were all at sea and launched the ball downfield. Just 11 seconds after the mistake at one end of the field, a Paul Geaney shot was bouncing into an empty Armagh net at the other end.A team like Kerry seize on the smallest of mistakes. Armagh didn’t lose simply because of those two incidents, but those marginal moments all add up.As a coach, these are the moments that really would have you banging your head against the seat in front of you on the way back to Armagh. It’s that mantra of doing the simple things right.Kerry didn’t do anything extraordinary in those circumstances, for the second goal Foley took a bit of a “hit and hope” with the long ball. But the mistakes by Armagh were at the edge of control – and that will be a huge frustration for McGeeney and his management team.As for Kerry, the road ahead really seems to have opened up for them now and they look to be getting their strongest team back at just the right time. The green and gold pieces are falling into place.In relation to their set-up, they were almost playing a José Mourinho Inter Milan-style game – Kerry did not push out, they sat instead in a low block.Kerry’s Dylan Geaney celebrates a point with Paudie Clifford. Photograph: James Crombie/INPHO I think it’s nearly a case of them saying, “We’re not going to concede goals and we’ll manage the two-pointers by defending sort of inside the 45, around the arc”. So, Kerry do not look to pressure the ball to force a turnover 50-55 metres out the field, they are indeed waiting for the opposition to make a mistake and then, bang, they break.So, is there something to be gained by allowing Kerry the short kick-out? If I were Tyrone preparing this week, I’d strongly consider not pressing up on the inside line for all kick-outs. As soon as we would get our attack completed, I’d be getting back out to the middle of the field and covering all long and mid kick-out options. This might result in them getting the ball away short but that is the risk-reward aspect of such a ploy.In the fourth minute of Saturday’s game Armagh might have shone a light on a way to get at Kerry. Paudie Clifford came down the field and took a short kick-out from Shane Murphy.But once Paudie collected that popped ball near the sideline, just outside the Kerry 20-metre line, he was limited in where he could go. You can’t go back to the goalie now, so the aim in that scenario is not to turn Paudie over but to stop Kerry from kicking through the lines by squeezing up further out the field and cutting out the space for those kick-passes. With no options out the field, Paudie ended up playing a short one-two with Paul Murphy. Then Paudie passed to Foley, but by that stage Kerry were still just outside their 20-metre line. Foley offloaded to O’Sullivan near the 45-metre line but he was put under pressure by Conor Turbitt and ultimately the Kerry defender was forced out over the sideline. Armagh took the sideline quickly and the play ended with a Duffy point.Kerry, like all teams, are looking to play the ball into space. So, how can you make it difficult for them?Teams are fascinated now by pressing that forces the kick-out long. Okay, if you drop off the risk is you’re giving them uncontested possession. But the reward is you’ve 15 bodies behind the ball, so the space isn’t there in behind for Kerry to exploit.It is difficult to implement such strategies inside a week if you haven’t been honing it all year, but certainly it is worth consideration for the sides who come up against the reigning All-Ireland champions over the coming weeks.Because Kerry are, once again, the team to stop.