There aren't many sides who go into a championship encounter with Kerry never having lost to such a superpower in the game, but Down enjoy this distinction with four wins from four meetings as they prepare for the All-Ireland quarter-final (Kerry v Down, Croke Park, Saturday 2pm).
The landscape looks slightly different in modern times, however. Kerry are very much the team of the century so far and are an annual presence in All-Ireland semi-finals and finals. They are side chock full of seasoned performers, although at this stage of the year the absence of retired midfield general Darragh O'Se, as well as his suspended duo, brother Tomas and bad boy Paul Galvin, will be more keenly felt. Those absentees would hurt any team, but are Down the side to take advantage?
The Ulster men have certainly built well under new manager James McCartan and their future looks bright, but the real measure of their ability against the top exponents of the game came in the Ulster semi-final with Tyrone.
That day, Down were simply strangled alive after a bright start and finished up clueless and well beaten. Kerry won't play a similar style game to Tyrone so Down will enjoy more breathing space, just don't expect them to be able to bridge what will be a similar gulf in overall class and experience against the Munster champions.
Kerry: B Kealy; M O Se, T Griffin, T O'Sullivan; A O'Mahony, M McCarthy, K Young; S Scanlon, M Quirke; Darran O'Sullivan, Declan O'Sullivan, D Walsh; C Cooper, K Donaghy, B Sheehan (c).
Down: B McVeigh, D McCartan, D Gordon, D Rafferty; D Rooney; J Colgan, C Garvey; A Rogers, K King; D Hughes, M Poland, P McComiskey; B Coulter, J Clarke, M Clarke