Former Kerry star Marc O'Se feels Mayo provided a template of how to trouble All Ireland champions Dublin in the 2016 Croke Park decider.

The ex-corner back and five time All Ireland winner retired after a 2016 championship which saw Kerry edged out by two points against the Dubs in the All Ireland semi final. 

Dublin are going for a trio of Sam Maguires in a row in 2017 and a fifth Allianz Football League on the trot in the coming weeks. 

The task for their rivals such as Kerry and Mayo is daunting but the latter's showing last September and in the replay showed one way of taking the Dubs to the brink of defeat according to O'Se.

"The best example of how you could possibly beat Dublin was watching Mayo in the All Ireland final," he said.

"I thought Mayo definitely showed the other counties that Dublin can be beaten. But that said, the other side of it is people have tried that now in the last few years but Dublin have won four National Leagues in a row, two All Irelands back to back, which we all know is very hard to do. 

"And the conveyor belt of talent that's coming out of the county. In 2015 you had Rory O'Carroll and Jack McCaffrey, two All Stars and Jack McCaffrey Footballer of the Year. The two boys leave for a year out and all of a sudden we see John Small Man of the Match in the All Ireland Football final in the drawn game. And you have Jonny Cooper slotting in at full back, winning an All Star there. They have talent all over the field but that said, last year's final Mayo definitely got stuck into Dublin and I don't think Dublin liked it. Mayo were very unlucky in the first half not to be up at half time and Dublin hadn't really played in the first half." 

On the tactical side, O'Se suggested targeting Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton and his kickouts, curbing Brian Fenton's influence in the middle and closing down their forward lines - particularly their potent half forward line.