Seán Moran looks at the revolution triggered off in Kerry by that semi-final of 2003

The lead-up to the match deepened the disappointment. When Kerry played Tyrone in the 2003 All-Ireland semi-final, the counties had been the best attacking sides of the championship. But high expectations evaporated as an ugly, foul-ridden match (72 frees) saw the Ulster champions hound their opponents to a far more convincing defeat than the seven-point margin indicated.

Reacting to the storm of abuse the match provoked, Tyrone manager Mickey Harte made an obvious point: "Everyone knew that you had two of the best attacking teams in the country so what were they going to do except try and stop the opposition scoring?"

It was also forgotten that for the first 20 minutes Tyrone had delivered on their advance publicity and cut Kerry to shreds. By half-time the score was 0-9 to 0-2. The loss of Peter Canavan with an injury may have eventually inhibited Harte's team, but their attacking verve had put Kerry away before the game became utilitarian.

Yet ask anyone of their abiding image of the match and chances are they'll mention the Kerry player in possession but surrounded by opponents, gathered like a pack of circling wolves.

The match was the death knell of Páidí Ó Sé's management but little over a year later, 10 of that Kerry team would be back to win a crushing victory in the 2004 All-Ireland final. By the annual convention at the end of last year, county chairman Seán Walsh noted that Kerry's achievement had restored the good name of football.

It didn't escape attention, however, that Jack O'Connor's side appeared to have learned certain lessons from the 2003 champions and what was enduringly described by Kerry legend Pat Spillane as their "puke football".

O'Connor himself, who has repeatedly defended Tyrone on the basis that style is just the optimum deployment of playing resources, acknowledges the influence on the championship-winning team he put together.

"Maybe not consciously, but watching Tyrone win the All-Ireland one thing stood out - they were working a lot harder. Kerry were going to have to work harder when they didn't have the ball. Unless you're prepared to match Tyrone's work rate you can't take the game any further.

"The other thing was that I wanted them to come out and express themselves. A lot of the backs have a lot of football and I wanted them to join in when the ball was coming out."

John O'Keeffe, a selector in 2003, also spotted the impact of what Tyrone had done to Kerry that day both in terms of retaining possession and emphasising the importance of mobility and interchangeability in defence.

"One of the influences might have come from the tactic of swarming quickly. It showed the importance of getting rid of the ball and opening up the gaps.

"Kerry are very fortunate to have great pace and strength in the backs and are well able to win the individual battles. Marc Ó Sé, Mike McCarthy and Tom O'Sullivan are adaptable and able to play anywhere across the back. The work ethic improved to the stage that the forwards, including Colm Cooper, were able to track back and put pressure on opponents."

For Mickey Harte there must have been irony in the sight of his lambasted tactics being adapted so dexterously by football's aristocracy. "Any manager is a living example of his own experiences," says Harte. "You try and get the best out of them and formulate a system for the team. This is particularly true of All-Ireland champions. Others monitor them, take something from it and fit it into their own context.

"Many recognised a greater mobility in the Kerry squad and the fact that they didn't play fixed positions as much as in the past."

Adapting the Tyrone model also involved finding some comparable personnel, most notably Paul Galvin, whose role as a workaholic wing forward was markedly similar to Brian Dooher's.

"Paul Galvin gave a lot of energy and options to Kerry," says Harte, "and in general there was a consciousness of the need to defend collectively, something that before wasn't as recognisable in Kerry's play - although it didn't draw as much attention as ours had."

Armagh played Kerry and Tyrone in successive All-Ireland finals. Watching Kerry's evolution since then left Armagh manager Joe Kernan in no doubt about the lessons of 2003. "Kerry weren't prepared for the way Tyrone played that day and they were outclassed and out-hassled in every sector. Kerry definitely learned from that and changed their game a wee bit, introducing more of a work ethic.

"If you look at videos of Kerry last year you'll frequently see 12 men behind the ball once it crosses halfway and then they break with speed when they win it back. In years gone by that mightn't have happened.

"I think the defence are all comfortable in any position and that's the way defenders have to be now.

"It's vital to get the ball out as quickly as possible and that means moving it quickly. Why beat a man when one of your team-mates are free? If you're surrounded by five opponents, it means five of yours are free - or five or yours are doing nothing."

The bouquets for Kerry's football were flung at the end of last year's championship and to an extent reflect how far superior the team was to its opponents in the All-Ireland series. When they had to scrap, as in the drawn and replayed Munster finals against Limerick, they scrapped and didn't appear to worry unduly about redeeming football's tarnished honour.

"Tight marking will always tally up more frees," is Kernan's pragmatic observation. "The more men you get behind the ball the more contact there's going to be."

O'Connor's skill was in recognising what Kerry needed to get to the starting line and how they could adapt the system of high work rate to exploit advantages elsewhere on the field. In the final against Mayo they took a grip at centrefield and went for early ball into the forwards.

"That again is down to what players you had," says O'Connor. "In the final I felt we'd be stronger overhead. That suited the players we had. But we'd tried it against Dublin and it didn't work because they dropped players back in front of their full backs so in the second half we had to play a shorter, passing game."

As Kernan puts it: "That's the beauty of the game. We don't all have to go down exactly the same road."

At least not the whole way.