How to stop The Kingdom from ruling over Gaelic football? For nearly two years, Kerry have been the dominant force in Gaelic football. The four-in-a-row All-Ireland minors, now in their prime, are coldly intent on winning as much as they can in the David Clifford era.From nowhere come Mayo. Actually, they came from the depths of despair following a 10-point loss to Roscommon in the Connacht semi-final on April 26th.Nobody predicted a Kerry v Mayo decider after that evening in McHale Park, when it looked like Andy Moran’s panel needed another hard winter away from the limelight.But here they come, in their ninth All-Ireland final this century. Full of precocious young footballers with an inside line of Darragh Beirne, Ryan O’Donoghue and Kobe McDonald that any county, besides Kerry, can only dream about unleashing into the wide open spaces of Croke Park.To think, this could be the last time we see the trio together. Unless McDonald has caught the Mayo bug. The natural high that comes from wearing your county colours in the championship is addictive.It’s hard to shake. Maybe, after this magical Mayo summer, McDonald’s head has been turned by the joy of achieving something with club and county. Or maybe he needs to go to Melbourne for a few years and get a taste of life as a professional. We’ll have to wait and see if something can be done about his imminent departure. There is a silver lining. If St Kilda get McDonald into their conditioning programme, he could return home in his early twenties as a footballing machine.In the meantime, O’Donoghue comes into Sunday off the performance of his life against Louth in the semi-final, when he kicked three two-pointes for a 1-11 total, as the two teenagers ran off him without a care in the world.Mayo's Ryan O'Donoghue celebrates scoring a goal against Louth during the semi-final. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho O’Donoghue, clearly, feeds off the young boys. I also have loads of time for Enda Hession and Jack Coyne at the back for Mayo. Jordan Flynn is another man who gets through an incredible amount of work, with a score or two guaranteed from the spaces he fills.This Mayo team will not be crippled by the psychological weight of history. Defeat in all the previous finals doesn’t matter to them. The younger the better in that sense. Nor should they be intimidated by the sight of Kerry or Clifford.There is no magic formula here. Kerry should win pulling up. But since the loss to Roscommon, I see Paddy Tally’s fingerprints all over Mayo’s defence. I know plenty about coming up against Paddy’s coaching methods. His record speaks for itself.[ Conor McManus: Building steadily and tactically brave, Louth’s progress has been no shockOpens in new window ]There are highlights, such as the 2003 All-Ireland with Tyrone and Down reaching the 2010 final under James McCartan, before Jack O’Connor recruited him to coach Kerry to an All-Ireland in 2022.Andy Moran wisely added Tally to his backroom. I also admire the way Moran has reshaped the Mayo team on the run this summer. To think that Aidan O’Shea and Cillian O’Connor were not needed against Louth tells you all you need to know about how he has stamped his imprint on the panel.The tactical messaging against Kerry is complex, yet the last words you’d impart to the Mayo players are fairly straight forward: stay in the fight. No matter what happens, keep trading blows in attack and defence. Don’t die wondering.Clifford cannot be contained under the new rules. Dublin’s David Byrne produced a near flawless man-marking job in the semi-final, and still Clifford finished with 1-5.You are damned either way as Paudie Clifford benefits from the extra space created by his brother’s clever decoy runs. Paudie Clifford benefits from the extra space created by his brother’s clever decoy runs. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho Armagh were the last team to keep David Clifford quiet, but that was the 2024 semi-final before the rules changed. The idea of him only landing 0-1 from play, ever again, is inconceivable to me.But let’s say he misfires. He will still create scores for others, including Dylan Geaney, and with Seán O’Shea returning against Dublin, there is not much hope of keeping them under 20 points.What makes this generation of Kerry footballers so close to being mentioned alongside the great teams under Mick O’Dwyer, Páidí Ó Sé and Jack’s first time around as manager is that they can beat you any which way. Hold the middle and they’ll rotate around the arc and pick off scores from distance. Go zonal and they’ll cut through with overlapping runs from Gavin White and Graham O’Sullivan.Yet, if Mayo are in the game entering the last 15 minutes, the Kerry players will start to feel the pressure. Even the Cliffords are not immune to the fear of failure.We’ll know how close this final will be from the opening exchanges. If Mayo cannot match Kerry for intensity in the tackle and accuracy when picking off scores in transition, it could get away from them before half-time.Each minute into the second-half that it remains a two or three score game benefits Mayo, as Kerry will begin to feel the pinch.Tally will show them specific clips from how Tyrone defended in the quarter-final. It wasn’t defending in the traditional sense. They refused to sit back. They rattled Kerry for as long as they could.Diarmuid O’Connor is now in his 11th season of continuous involvement with Kerry. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Tally will also focus on Shane Murphy’s kick outs against Dublin. This area could dictate how the entire contest unfolds. Before half-time, the Dubs turned two Kerry kick outs into 0-1. In the third quarter, when Brian Howard and Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne did trojan work, they turned four Murphy restarts into 0-3 on the scoreboard.If Mayo get a similar “in”, the inside three forwards have the fire power to drag Kerry into the house of pain.Kerry are the best football team in the country, but they are not out of sight. Not yet anyway. Tyrone and Dublin showed Mayo the way. It will require ferocious intensity, a field day from two-pointers and some inspirational cameos by long suffering servants, namely Aidan O’Shea, Tommy Conroy, Conor Loftus or one of the O’Connor brothers.Even then, Kerry should have too much for them. Mayo must break their rhythm at every opportunity. Just stay in the fight.