BEWARE of Kerry men washing their dirty linen in public. It's such an unusual occurrence that even a complete fool with a master's degree in gullibility would be suspicious of the reasoning behind it.

The decision to delay the announcement of the team to play Antrim until tomorrow, accompanied by rumours that Colm Cooper and Tomas O Se were to be dropped, coincided so symmetrically that it has the unmistakable appearance of careful choreography.

Yes, there may be tensions and crankiness within a squad which is struggling to locate anything like its best form. But then, they were there in 2006 too after Kerry lost the Munster final replay to Cork as graphically recorded by Jack O'Connor is his book.

A spat here, a flashpoint there, a misunderstanding or two, all followed by the soothing balm of a few apologies, a clear-the-air meeting and back on the road again with Kieran Donaghy riding shotgun from his new seat up front. Two months later and Kerry could laugh at the incidents which looked so serious in summer as they returned home as All-Ireland champions.

clashed

O'Connor, who had clashed with various players during the fraught times, laughed louder than most. At one stage of the season he had been especially annoyed by Tom O'Sullivan's failure to respond to a text message. On the train home after the All-Ireland win, O'Connor's phone bleeped.

"Remember that text, Jack.

'Tom, you will regret not returning my call. I want no casual footballers in my squad. If you don't think it worth your while to return my call you can f**k off. J.'

"From the man who held Conor Mortimer scoreless and saved your job."

Laughs all round as the reflection of happy faces gleamed off the shiny Sam Maguire Cup.

Whether this year turns out to be 2006 revisited, providing O'Connor with some lively chapters for an updated version of his book, remains to be seen. What's certain is that the season has turned out a whole lot different to what was anticipated after Kerry skated through the National League as if they were on a different surface to everybody else.

They won it on what looked like three-quarter power but now, as August approaches, there's an impression abroad of a jaded squad, ravaged by injury, who are trying to survive off instinct.

The rumour machine, ever busy, ever mischievous at this time of year, has thrown out some prize nuggets this week.

They even hardened into 'news' that Gooch and T O Se wouldn't be starting against Antrim tomorrow.

The words 'dropped' and 'axed' has fed into the mix although quite how anybody can be so certain before the team is actually announced is an interesting conundrum, best assigned to the 'let's wait and see' department.

After all, nobody can be dropped until the teamsheet it pinned up.

If O'Connor was planning to drop the pair, is it not surprising that news of his decision should leak days in advance of the team announcement?

Could it be that whatever in-house sorting O'Connor deemed necessary involved sending out clear signals that high-profile players were about to be demoted?

Is it all part of a grand design where everything is sorted behind locked doors and Kerry emerge as a united force tomorrow, beating Antrim and retaining their proud record of being the only team in the country to reach the All-Ireland quarter-final every year since the new system was introduced in 2001.

That's why it's best to ignore many of the rumours emanating from Kerry and landing conveniently on media desks.

Frankly, you never know what the cute hoors in Kerry are up to when it comes to manipulating a situation to their advantage.

What we do know is that Kerry haven't been playing well all summer.

That, coupled with injury problems, has raised doubts as to whether they're a tired team with little more to give (for the present at least) after reaching the last five All-Ireland finals.

It's a theory to which Mikey Sheehy, one of the long-service Duracell bunnies during the era of Mick O'Dwyer, does not subscribe.

"There are a lot of young players around too so I don't buy the tired theory. When a team that's been doing well for a long time loses a bit of form it's always claimed that they're jaded, finished or whatever.

"It's too simple and very often isn't true," said Sheehy.

He is particularly scathing of those who have been critical of Cooper, pointing out that Gooch has set such high standards that the merest dip in form is blown out of proportion.

"Gooch is one of the best forwards I have ever seen.

"He has done an unbelievable amount for Kerry over the years but his every performance is judged by such high standards that it's impossible for anybody to reach them all the time.

"He has missed Kieran Donaghy this summer but I still don't believe there's anything wrong with the Gooch's game that couldn't come right in one game.

"There's no doubt that fellas' confidence all over the team has been hit, what with the defeat by Cork and two close calls against Longford and Sligo.

"I'd have to say though that people are doing a disservice to teams like Longford and Sligo.

prepared

"All county teams are very well prepared nowadays and hard to play against.

"You could see how Kevin Walsh had organised Sligo into a very compact outfit last week.

"They came very close to Galway too and beat Antrim in the Division 4 league final, yet Antrim made it all the way to the Ulster final and Galway were only a point short against Mayo and are still genuine All-Ireland contenders.

"Things have evened up an awful lot," said Sheehy.

For all that, nobody can dispute that Kerry have lacked fluency so far, raising the question as to why they looked so impressive in the league only to re-emerge for the championship in a far less enterprising mode.

Sheehy believes it's down to the different intensity levels and believes they were especially low this year.

"I was at Kerry's home games and they were all very relaxed.

"There wasn't much to be learned from them but then the same applied across the board," he said.

Still, Kerry would have headed into the championship feeling especially good about themselves, yet seven weeks later there are those who believe the Kingdom's campaign could end against Antrim.

Among the issues that surprised people was O'Connor's decision to turn to Michael McCarthy as a first port of repair for a struggling defence. At the very least, it wasn't exactly a vote of confidence in the back-up troops.

The dip in form by so many established names and the injury to Donaghy also left O'Connor with an extensive menu of problems.

Why then he would choose to let it be known well in advance that he wasn't going to play Cooper and Tomas O Se tomorrow is difficult to understand. So much so that it may not even prove to be correct.

Said Sheehy: "Look we're a great county for rumours. It was the same

in my day and I'm sure it's not going to change.

"But it's also a great county for turning things around.

"I'm still convinced that one really good performance could change everything because believe me, these

lads are hurting.

"I know it was a close call against Sligo last week but there were times in the first half when it looked as if Kerry might put something very exciting together.

"That can still happen," said Sheehy.

Kerry haven't exited the championship in July since 1999 and are unlikely to end this decade with an early departure.

"Whether they can pick up the pace for the All-Ireland quarter-finals remains to be seen but, rumours notwithstanding, it would be most unwise to underestimate a county with Kerry's pedigree.

"Let's put it this way. I'd expect Kerry to beat Antrim and go into the quarter-final draw.

"And when Cork, Dublin, Mayo and Tyrone are watching the draw tomorrow guess who they'll want to avoid?" said Sheehy.

- Martin Breheny