ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIERS ROUND THREE: Kerry V Sligo, Venue:Tralee Throw-in:5pm, today On TV:Live on TV3

IN ALMOST any other year this would be seen as a soft draw for Kerry. But not right now. Sligo have never beaten them in the championship but they won’t make the long journey south this afternoon without hope. It’s just they’d have had a lot more hope if the game was played in Sligo.

Kerry raised more questions than they answered in scraping past Longford, not least how they’ll cope from here on without Kieran Donaghy. Jack O’Connor has a couple more adjustments, most notably in completing Mike McCarthy’s return from retirement, while Aidan O’Mahony also returns to the defence. In attack last year’s captain Paul Galvin returns after suspension to replace Donaghy and that could be the spark that was lacking.

While Kerry should ultimately win, it’s going to be a fascinating battle.

KERRY (v Sligo):D Murphy; M Ó Sé, T Griffin, T O'Sullivan; T Ó Sé , M McCarthy, A O'Mahony; D Ó Sé, S Scanlon; P Galvin, D O'Sullivan, D Walsh; C Cooper, T Walsh, S O'Sullivan.

SLIGO:P Greene; P McGovern, N McGuire, N Ewing; M McNamara, R Donovan, J Davey; E Mullen, T Taylor; M Breheny, A Costello, A Marren; D Kelly, E O'Hara, S Coen.