The task facing Kerry in Sunday's Sports Direct FAI Cup semi-final is a mammoth one.
Down towards the bottom of the First Division, the Munster men are set to take on Shamrock Rovers, the team top of the pile in the Premier Division.
The quality divide between the two tiers is clear.
If you look at the last 10 winners of the First Division, six - Wexford, Limerick, Waterford, UCD, Shelbourne and Cork - have gone straight back down in subsequent years.
Cork City, 2024 winners of the competition, are currently bottom of the Premier Division and likely facing their third yo-yo relegation in five seasons. Waterford and Galway, two of the other sides to have spent periods in the second tier in the last decade, are also battling to avoid ending up ninth and in the promotion/relegation play-off.
All of this suggests a top third of League of Ireland clubs, a middle third of yo-yo clubs, and then the bottom tier, who can't quite get into the play-off conversation.
Kerry, for now, fall into this third tier, and they're up against the side who are top of the first tier.
"There is a big gap," manager Colin Healy (pictured above) acknowledged this week ahead of the game.
"The quality that they, the squads that they have, they're very, very strong.
"We're coming up against the best team in the country. We've done analyses, strengths and weaknesses... haven't found any weaknesses yet," he concludes, with a laugh.
"Anything can happen. It's a one-off. Nobody fancied us against Sligo but in the group we did" - Kerry FC manager Colin Healy is hoping for another FAI Cup shock in Sunday's semi-final against Shamrock Rovers pic.twitter.com/gDvvhbJb29
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 29, 2025
Healy knows Bradley well.
They did their coaching badges together and the respect that the Shamrock Rovers manager has for Healy was clear when he came out to bat for him earlier this year, calling the FAI's treatment of Healy during his departure from his role with the women's national team "disgraceful."
So where can Kerry find some hope ahead of their trip to Tallaght Stadium?
The men from the south-west are coming to the end of their third season in the League of Ireland.
After back-to-back 10th place finishes in the ten-team second tier, Kerry are guaranteed to finish off the bottom of the table this season.
A strong finish could see them finish as high as seventh, which is clear progress for such a new outfit. They've only lost once in their last six in the league. That was against UCD, but they did manage an encouraging 3-3 draw with champions elect Dundalk at Oriel Park.
Their route to the last four has taken them past Premier Division opposition already this season.
Their victory against Sligo Rovers in the last round was astonishing. Three down with less than half an hour to play, it looked like they had more than met their match in the Bit o' Red.
But Cian Brosnan's stoppage-time goal forced extra time and Daniel Okwute was the hero in that period, scoring the winner to complete the remarkable turnaround.
"The players are looking forward to it and they deserve to be in the semi-final," Healy added.
"The last game against Sligo, being 3-0 down and to bring it back to 4-3... the effort that they've put in, the belief that they have, they deserve it.
"The league form goes out the window in the cup, and that's the magic of the cup really; anything can happen. I know what we're going into against a very good football team with a top manager.
"We'll look at different ways (to approach Shamrock Rovers). We're coming up against a very good footballing team. They've got so many players, they could make so many changes.
"It'll be a difficult match but we'll put something together and hopefully that'll be ok on the day."
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Watch the Sports Direct FAI Cup semi-finals with RTÉ Sport. Cork City v St Patrick's Athletic on Friday from 7pm and Shamrock Rovers v Kerry on Sunday from 5.30pm. Both matches also on RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport.
