AS much as Kerry's decade long over familiarity with playing Cork has, in ways, become a disadvantage whenever those counties meet, Saturday's All-Ireland quarter-final against Down poses the opposite problem. The current Kerry players or the management have no previous with Down, and while video analysis and eye witness accounts from the stands can give some insight into an opponent, Kerry will face a Down team – and vice versa – that, in reality, they know very little about.

To that end , Saturday's game takes on an unknown quality, which will appeal to neutrals and even partisan Kerry and Down supporters, but footballers, and especially managers, don't necessarily like surprises, so Jack O'Connor and his counterpart James McCartan ( pictured) are sure to be exploring every avenue to get the inside track on their opponents. Of course, McCartan will have a far greater volume of DVDs to fall back on, whereas the Kerry management will need to be a little more inventive in doing their analysis this week. Not with-standing all that, Saturday's match will invariably throw up a few key battles where the outcome of this unique quarter-final may well be decided. It's no secret that Kerry's midfield has struggled at times throughout the Munster championship, and it won't help that Down appear to have a very settled and useful midfield partnership in Ambrose Rogers and Kalum King.

King is a hugely powerful, if not very mobile, midfielder who is well able to win primary possession from kickouts and uses the ball simply but safely. Think Micheal Quirke with a Northern accent.

Rogers is the more versatile of the two, and covers a huge amount of ground, linking with his half backs and half forward, and crucially he has been popping up for goals with some regularity.

Questions still remain over what midfield partnership Kerry will opt for. Speculation has David Moran starting alongside Seamus Scanlon, even though the Currow man has apparently being struggling with an injury since the Munster final win over Limerick.

That would imply that Micheal Quirke will be kept in reserve for his "impact" role, coming off the bench, probably early in the second half, to get his hands on the primary ball and control the tempo of the game if, as is hoped, Kerry have a decent lead to protect at that stage. If Scanlon's injury prohibits him from completing 70-plus minutes then expect Kerry to finish with two different midfielders than they start with, with Quirke and Anthony Maher likely to finish out the game.

Whatever way Kerry design to start – and finish – at midfield, it will be vital that King's aerial superiority and Rogers roaming be severely curtailed, and with Paul Galvin and Tomás Ó Sé absent, much more responsibility will fall on the Kerry no. 8 and 9 to get through more spade work than they managed against Alan O'Connor in June and John Galvin earlier this month.

With the aforementioned Ó Sé missing from the defence – and with speculation that Aidan O'Mahony will start (possibly at centre back) – there could be a frailty to Kerry's half back line that Down might have the potential to exploit. O'Mahony's talents as a half back are beyond question but the simple reality is that he hasn't started a Championship match in 12 months, and his form in the National League was ropey at best.

That he shied away from the inter-county scene for a couple of months earlier this summer can reasonably point to some mental fraility when it comes to the game, and the biggest question the Rathmore needs to answer is has he regained the temperament and appetite for the big occasion. Mark Poland is a very useful centre forward who will surely look to take on O'Mahony on every occasion, while Mike McCarthy, whether at right half back or centre back, might find himself defending far more than he did against Limerick three weeks ago.

At the other end, the duel between Kieran Donaghy and Dan Gordan promises to be pivotal. Gordon is a very useful midfielder turned capable full back, and his conversion to full back has been a key stone on which James McCartan has built this Down side. The Loughinisland man is 6'3" and is comfortable under the high ball, and like most Ulster defenders he won't be spooked by the task of marking Donaghy.

If one is totally honest, Donghy's performances against Cork and Limerick were nowhere near what he is capable of. That may, in part, be attributed to a lack of sustained quality ball coming in from midield, but with Kerry's best distributor, Paul Galvin, still suspended, Donaghy is going to have to make this happen for himself against Down.

He is certain to find Gordon in close company for the afternoon, meaning Colm Cooper and especially Bryan Sheehan's supporting roles will be even more important.

When all is said and done Kerry, despite their suspensions and injuries, should still have too much talent and experience at this level to get caught by a decent Down team that wil be high on adrenaline but less so on Croke Park experience.

There are a few areas where Kerry will need to be wary, none more so than keeping a tight rein on Benny Coulter and Marty Clarke – a tough task for Marc Ó Sé and Tom O'Sullivan but Kerry can finally break the Championship hex Down hold over them.