It hasn't always been a rivalry to savour but Kerry v Mayo, whether it's league or championship, has certainly been a notable attraction for over a decade now.
In the noughties, the Kingdom treated the westerners with contempt in two All-Ireland finals. It was hard to watch for green and red followers; a dose of reality. In truth, Mayo were punching above their weight in making those respective deciders.
In 2010, following championship defeats to Sligo and Longford, John O'Mahony's second stint in charge of Mayo came to an end. The search began for a successor. Mayo native and former Dublin and Offaly manager, Tommy Lyons, many thought, would get the gig. In the end, James Horan, on the back of guiding Ballintubber to a county title, was the chosen one.
His first season at the helm saw Mayo regain the Connacht crown and then knock reigning Sam Maguire holders, Cork, out of the championship. Kerry were next up in the All-Ireland semi-final. A nine-point defeat brought an end to Mayo's summer, but the margin of victory flattered Jack O'Connor side, who only pulled away in the last five minutes. Horan's side received more than a few plaudits.
O'Connor told the waiting media afterwards: "There was serious pressure on the ball there today and in fairness to Mayo they were very intense, kept it going for 50 to 60 minutes. And thankfully we pulled away in the last five minutes. I think James Horan has brought a tougher edge to Mayo, certainly. I never saw a Mayo team tackling like that before, in my time anyway."
Since that August day in 2011, Kerry would feel Mayo's intensity on other big days. The Kingdom would reciprocate. A rivalry was born.
24 August 2014: Kerry and 14-man Mayo finished level on 1-16 each in an epic All-Ireland semi-final. Lee Keegan saw red on 33 minutes. Horan's men made light of the numerical disadvantage, pushing four points clear as the clock closed in on 70.
Éamonn Fitzmaurice sprung Kieran Donaghy from the bench. 'The Star' won an important ball in the air, and provided the pay-off for O'Donoghue’s 68th-minute goal, before another substitute, Kieran O’Leary, hooked over the stoppage-time equaliser.
30 August 2014: The replay at Limerick's Gaelic Grounds. Croke Park was unavailable due to American College Football at HQ. Two converted penalties from James O’Donoghue helped send Kerry into the final in what was a fractious encounter
Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly had a chance to win it for the Connacht champions with the final kick of normal time, but came up short with a last-gasp free in the dying seconds of an epic encounter.
The Connacht men were on fire in the first half, Cillian O’Connor getting two goals, one from the spot, as they raced into a seven-point lead. Future Footballer of the Year O’Donoghue dragged Kerry back with his two green flags from the spot.
It finished 3-11 apiece at the end of normal time and it was 3-13 each at half-time in extra-time. O’Connor and Aidan O’Shea collided and weren’t the same players in the game after while Mayo were left frustrated by an erratic refereeing performance from Cormac Reilly.
20 August 2017: Another semi-final, another draw, 2-14 apiece. A game notable for Aidan O'Shea's positioning at full-back to mark target-man Kieran Donaghy - a compelling sideshow in a contest where both teams could have won and at times looked like they were trying to lose.
26 August 2017: Back at Croker for the replay and there was no denying that Mayo fully merited their five-point win - 2-16 to 0-17. Kerry finished with 13 men with Peter Crowley and Kieran Donaghy both seeing red. That year's Player of the Year, Andy Moran, was among the goals for the victors.
Since then both sides did meet in a league final in 2019 where Mayo, after a long gap, got to raise some silverware at Croke Park. Later that summer Kerry gained revenge with a comfortable Super 8s win in Killarney. It was also Kerry's day on 3 April this year in another Division 1 decider, 15 points the winning margin.
And so to this afternoon. Another collision, two steps out from the Sam Maguire showdown. Kerry are favoured, a team that if Sam is not delivered this year, will surely bring it home in the next few years. Mayo still have hope. They always have hope, even though their form has been patchy. Nothing too eye-catching in how they accounted for Monaghan and Mayo. But they are still alive.
The closer we get to Sunday, however, there is the growing sense that one should ignore the previous when it comes to this Mayo crop. More pointedly, ignore the league final.
Kerry All-Ireland winner Dara Ó Cinnéide has spoken about a certain "wariness" in the Kingdom ahead of the quarter-final. It's not a case of the three-time All-Ireland winner being overly guarded, telling RTÉ Sport that "realistically Kerry are a better team than Mayo are at the moment".
It's more Mayo's know-how in being at the required pitch for big games that has him worried.
Ó Cinnéide said: "The focus down here is to totally discount this year's league final because Mayo were missing at least a third of their team.
"Kerry learned from last year that beating Tyrone by as much as they did didn't count for a whole lot when it came to the championship and the feeling is very much the same now. We beat Mayo very handily in the league final, there is no sense that a repeat is in the offing.
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"Mayo are just hard to predict, they are the type of team that play to the level of the opposition. Since they have re-emerged as a force over the last decade, they have managed to take out a big player in most of those years. There is a wariness down in Kerry about that, a natural wariness, following on from a soft Munster Championship.
"There is an institutional memory there with Mayo on how to win games. They 'play' the opposition. Against Kildare, where you would fancy them to win, they'll play a point or two better than them. Rarely will Mayo hammer you but they will raise their game for a Kerry who would be a step above Kildare, create a situation to boost their running game and then cause you problems.
"That's the type of them they are; they play to a level to suit the opposition and then raise their game accordingly."
Further referencing the win over Kildare, Ó Cinnéide added: "Kildare pulled out an awful lot of good stuff but on 60 minutes you knew the tide was turning. I'm going back again to that institutional memory. Lee Keegan and Paddy Durkan driving forward, Pádraig O'Hora came on to create the goal for Oisín Mullin. Mayo again doing enough in the qualifiers.
"An experienced team that knows how to win, that has internalised a memory to win such games, and then when they get the opportunity against bigger teams, when least expected, they explode into life."
In Kerry, it's all about the big prize, ending what is now an eight-year wait. Nothing new there. The Gaeltacht clubman and all of the county know that.
"The expectation is to win the All-Ireland," he said. "There are no fast-forward buttons to get past booby traps and banana skins, this team is good enough to win the All-Ireland. They don't do league success down in Kerry. That pressure is there on them until such a time as they deliver Sam Maguire. That's the expectation within the group; they've won a lot at underage.
"You'd be disingenuous to say that you're not looking around and surveying the landscape. Dublin, after the Leinster final, are a bit ahead of the pack. After Sunday we will know a lot more. Kerry players will be relishing the challenge, if they are any good they'll have their pulses well checked on Sunday."
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Follow the All-Ireland Football Championship quarter-finals on Sunday, Galway v Armagh (1.45pm) and Kerry v Mayo (4pm), via our live blog on rte.ie/sport or on the RTÉ News app. Watch live coverage on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player commencing at 1.15pm with live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1.
