Kerry coach Cian O'Neill was impressed with the manner of Donegal's semi-final slaying of Dublin - but says the Kingdom players are well-equipped for the battle that lies ahead.

The Kildare native left the Mayo camp to join Eamonn Fitzmaurice's backroom team this year and he respects the way Donegal stuck to their game-plan against the Sam Maguire holders.

"You'd have to be impressed (with Donegal)," he remarked to The Irish Independent. "I was up at the (Dublin) match. I felt they had a particular game-plan and they executed it very well.

"They believe their style of play irrespective of what anyone else thinks of it. It's served them well two years ago.

"What I liked about the performance the last day was even when the game was going away from them, they stayed resolute. They believed in their plan and they continued to do what they'd set out to do."

O'Neill is confident that Kerry are well-prepared for all eventualities this Sunday.

"It's possibly something that's been thrown at Kerry teams in recent years that they don't close out tight games, when things go against them, they don't put themselves in a position where they can change that.

"But they've been very resolute when things have gone against them. In a couple of league matches, and certainly in the Galway match when Galway had that purple patch and came back. And I think the two Mayo matches speak for themselves.

"Any time adversity stared them in the face, they were going to stare it back down again. That wasn't a trait that was associated with this group of players."

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