THE honeymoon period is well and truly over for Kieran McGeeney and Kildare.
Since the former Armagh All-Ireland winning captain took over Kildare six years ago, silverware has been hard to come by. A solitary Division Two title is all Kildare have to show for their efforts under McGeeney's guidance.
The main reason for a lack of trophies, at least in terms of the Leinster Championship, has been the dominance of Dublin.
During McGeeney's tenure, Dublin have won five Leinster titles from six including a three-point win over Kildare in the 2009 Leinster final.
Yet, Kildare have also gained a reputation as a 'bad team bully' due to their ability to hammer weaker teams when they travel the Qualifier route. They are long overdue a major Championship scalp.
Kildare would dearly love it to come tomorrow against the defending Leinster champions.
Jim Gavin's side won the National League with a one-point defeat of
Tyrone before hammering Division Two runners-up Westmeath in their Leinster opener.
Gavin, in his first year as Dublin manager, has an embarrassment of riches at his disposal hence why the bookies have the Dubs as 5/2 favourites for this year's All-Ireland title.
Kildare are without centre back Ollie Lyons for tomorrow's clash and he is replaced by Morgan O'Flaherty.
Full-forward Tomas O'Connor has the potential to cause Rory O'Carroll plenty of problems while wing-forward Paul Cribben had a fine league campaign.
However, back in March, Dublin ran riot against their neighbours and coasted to a 13-point win.
A late goal for Offaly took the bad look off the scoreboard during their Leinster quarter-final and Kildare were rarely troubled during the 0-19 to 1-12 win.
Tomorrow will be a different story and the Kildare defence must improve significantly if they are to upset their rivals.
It would be surprising if Kildare fold as easily as they did in the League meeting but Dublin look a class above McGeeney's side and another summer in the Qualifiers beckons for the Lilywhites.
TEAMS
Dublin: S Cluxton; D Daly, R O'Carroll, J Cooper; J McCarthy, Ger Brennan, J McCaffrey; MD Macauley, C O'Sullivan; P Flynn, C Kilkenny, D Connolly; P Mannion, P Andrews, B Brogan.
Kildare: M Donnellan; P Kelly, M Foley, H McGrillen; E O'Callaghan, M O'Flaherty, E Bolton; D Flynn, D Flynn; P Cribbin, N Kelly, E O'Flaherty; J Doyle, T O'Connor, P Brophy.