By Cian O'Connell

Kerry and Dublin; Mick O'Dwyer and Kevin Heffernan; teams loaded with class and characters.

It remains a cherished era in GAA folklore. Suddenly Dublin were delivering on promise, Heffernan always believed that potential existed.

The 1975 final, though, was when the rivarly relaunched. Two extravagant collections of players being managed by O'Dwyer and Heffernan, still renowned and revered for what they achieved.

Training methods were devised and gifted teams were stitched together. The final of 1974 brought glory for Dublin, inspired by a Paddy Cullen save.

Unsurprisingly significant expectation was attached to the next campaign. A revitalised Dublin were on the march - seeking further silverware.

Down south, though, Kerry were planning and plotting with an emerging raft of players being schooled by O'Dwyer. 

Kerry had endured demanding days at GAA headquarters, but as O'Dwyer watched Championships unfold, lessons were learned.

In his authorised biography by Owen McCrohan, O'Dwyer stressed the need to be able to adapt to challenges. "The football that won All Irelands for Down in 1960 and Dublin in 1974, was a precision game that required a high level of fitness," he said.

"It ushered in a new era in Gaelic Football. We could not have countered Dublin in 1975 if we tried to play the way Con Brosnan and Bob Stack and John Joe Sheehy did in the 20s.

"First of all, we did not have the physique to play that kind of game even if we wanted to.

"Secondly, the game had evolved into something very different and we had to change with it. Either that or get left behind."

It usually doesn't happen to the Kingdom.

**

A year previously the blue flag was perched on the summit of the Gaelic Football world.

Heffernan was a firm believer that something could be constructed in the capital city. The people wanted a successful Gaelic Football team to follow.

That process was beginning, but Kerry were loitering with intent.

O'Dwyer had them on the famous wire to wires. Mickey Ned O'Sullivan, who only lasted the first quarter in the '75 decider before being forced off injured, recalled the intensity of the sessions, in Joe O'Muircheartaigh and TJ Flynn's splendid Princes of Pigskin.

"I would have helped Micko make out the first training session," O'Sullivan told O'Muircheartaigh.

"After that he was on his own. We had the first session and he came over to me and said, 'how was that?'. It was hard but I said it wasn't half hard enough. He never consulted with anyone after that.

"We had seen Dublin train in Gormanstown and came to the conclusion that the only way we'd beat them was to be fitter than them. We had to be the fittest team in Ireland."

That mission would soon be accomplished.

**

The day before the 1975 showpiece Kerry landed at Heuston Station. Largely unknown and unheralded outside of their own county.

Deep down there was a belief, but when they stepped from the train they weren't stars. Yet.

"When we got off the train at Heuston, a photographer approached me and asked me which carriage the senior team would be getting off," stated Paidi O Se's in his autobiography with Sean Potts.

"No one really knew us. There was a decent crowd of Kerry supporters waiting to welcome us, which got the blood going. Exciting. Grin on my face. The old Dublin-Kerry rivalry was about to be resumed for the first time in 20 years.

"Kerry people exiled in the capital were keen to make themselves known to their neighbours."

Eight All Ireland titles in 12 years ensured they were most certainly appreciated by the end of the 1986 Championship.