Former Mayo forward Maurice Horan believes that Kerry will be "very wary" of his native county this Sunday.

The Tralee-based Horan, who was a part of Stephen Rochord's management team last year, took up a coaching role with Kerry senior outfit Kerins O'Rahilly's this season and is well-placed to call this weekend's All-Ireland semi-final.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner this week, the Ballinrobe native says that the Westerners' "surprise element" is very much gone heading into the first of this month's last four encounters.

"I'm enjoying the build-up down here," he said. "Kerry lads are telling me that our county quarter-final won't be on until October anyway - when Kerry are out of the championship!" he laughed.

"I think Kerry would be very wary of Mayo, they'd certainly be very respectful of them after what they did against Roscommon. There's no doubt they'd be confident, but they would certainly respect them at the same time. There would be a feeling that Mayo have been gradually putting performances together and the quarter-final replay was the most complete one yet.

"But that means the element of surprise is gone too, there's no catching Kerry on the hop now."

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