The parade before the 2015 All Ireland SFC Final.
Sunday August 28
All Ireland SFC Semi-Final
Dublin v Kerry, Croke Park, 3.30pm
By Cian O'Connell
Throughout the year as Dublin and Kerry chalked up Championship victories the thought of an All Ireland SFC Semi-Final on August 28 was buried somewhere in the mind. That day has nearly arrived. All the debate and deliberation, the planning and plotting matters deeply.
It will be a defining game for Kerry, who aren’t exactly pleased with their recent record against Dublin. Since the emphatic 2009 Quarter-Final triumph over Dublin, Kerry have simply encountered pain and harrowing losses whenever they’ve collided with the Sky Blue shirt.
The 2011 and 2015 finals and the classic in 2013 at the penultimate stage all culminated in Dublin triumphs. Ending that sequence is what Kerry want to do.
Dublin, though, have found answers for every question posed so far in 2016. A Ryan McHugh goal put Dublin under duress in an edgy contest, but Jim Gavin’s team recovered. Paul Mannion’s beautiful major ensured the topic of conversation remains centred on Dublin’s dynamism and depth.
Ciaran Kilkenny is an influential player for Dublin.
Another issue, though, that Eamonn Fitzmaurice stresses is Dublin’s ability to finish with a flourish. April’s Allianz Football League decider is used as an example by Fitzmaurice. “I think in the League final, while we never looked like winning the game, we were in the game,” Fitzmaurice reflects.
“We were three points down in the 65th minute having played 20 minutes with 14 players. They did what they do in the closing stages.
“They got goals and they pulled away. I don’t think we - my memory of that game - I don’t think we ever looked like winning the League final. But I don’t think we were flat that day. I think we didn’t play as well as we can play and Dublin were very good again.”
So the challenge for Kerry is to dethrone the All Ireland champions in front of a sold out Croke Park. Rory O’Carroll and Jack McCaffrey opted out of the Dublin set-up for this campaign, but Fitzmaurice feels Dublin are coping well. “I think the fellas that have come in are very good,” is Fitzmaurice’s assessment. “I think the likes of John Small was in place for a couple of years and he was waiting his chance.
“When he got his chance. I think he’s got better and better as the season has gone on. David Byrne wasn’t a player I was overly familiar with until this year, but I think he has improved as the year has gone on.
“And I think with Dublin, especially their defenders, it’s under-estimated how important their defenders are to them because we see the expansive game they play and the scores they put up.
Kieran Donaghy in action for Kerry.
“But they have very good defenders, particularly in one on one situations. They practice defending a lot and they’re good defenders. I don’t think they’ve missed the lads a lot. Whether it’s a factor between now and the end of September, who knows?
“But if anything, it’s freshened the team and it’s freshened the group. Which has to happen if you’re going to retain an All-Ireland.”
That is something Dublin last managed to achieve back in 1977. Even though Sam Maguire has been captured by Dublin on five occasions in the intervening years, they haven’t managed to stitch back to back All Ireland wins. “I think that they’re mad to do it because the success that they’ve had in this decade - that’ll be the ultimate achievement, to get a back-to-back All-Irelands,” Fitzmaurice acknowledges.
“I just think that hunger is a factor. I think hunger caught us at the end last year. I think, on the day, Dublin were hungrier than us. We had been hungry to that point, but for some reason we met a team that were hungrier than us last September.
“It’s very hard to measure that or to quantify it or to make fellas hungry. But they were hungrier than us last September. You’d be hoping that we’d be hungrier this time around.”
Who will be still dining at the top table with Mayo next month?