Sport

Danny Hughes: Special Dublin side deserve to go down as history-makers

Dublin's Ciarán Kilkenny (left) and Séamus O'Shea of Mayo in action during the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park, Dubln on Saturday August 10 2019. Picture by Philip Walsh.
Dublin's Ciarán Kilkenny (left) and Séamus O'Shea of Mayo in action during the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park, Dubln on Saturday August 10 2019. Picture by Philip Walsh. Dublin's Ciarán Kilkenny (left) and Séamus O'Shea of Mayo in action during the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park, Dubln on Saturday August 10 2019. Picture by Philip Walsh.

I don’t buy into the idea that Kerry have nothing to lose going into Sunday's All-Ireland Senior Football final.

For anyone who has lost a final, underdog or not, it’s an awful place to be.

Yes, Kerry are the great aristocrats of football, as of course are Dublin.

But no-one can tell me that when Kerry footballers are born and take to the field in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day, they don’t believe they can win.

The Kerry boys are born with an innate superiority complex.

They have historically been fortunate that the structure of the championship has leaned in their favour.

Cork have always rivalled Kerry in Munster, however otherwise the route to the All-Ireland semi-finals have been relatively straight-forward for ‘The Kingdom’.

Now, in the more recent future the quarter-finals and the Super-8’s have provided more obstacles.

While the unstoppable ‘Dubs’ look odds on favourites to secure five-in-a-row.

There is pressure on Kerry to stop them.

There is pressure from within the group itself – historically this has always been one of the driving forces behind every great sports team.

There is the pressure from Kerry fans.

And we are all aware of comments used to describe some of their followers over the years.

Lastly there is the pressure from all non-Dub supporting football fans.

But nonetheless I think we all want and more importantly need to see a good football final; a close affair.

All this talk of the predictability and inevitability of a Dublin win perhaps ignores the fact that the Championship this year has been relatively good.

I didn’t think Kerry would make it this far to be honest – at any time during this year’s campaign.

They have some really individually brilliant players, but I just felt that they lacked the defence.

Without stalwarts such as the O’Se brothers, Aiden O’Mahoney and Kieran Donaghy adding that ‘bite’ and ‘aggression’ to the game, I doubted their ability to get over the line.

That changed slightly when Mayo came to Killarney in the Super-8’s.

Undoubtedly, they showed that day that they had backbone and can be aggressive into the bargain.

That may have been enough against Mayo but in no way are Mayo Dublin.

What Mayo did do though was to highlight how Dublin can be unsettled.

The template was drawn in the first 35 minutes in the Mayo v Dublin semi-final.

It may have went pear-shaped in the second half, but I think that it was a case that Mayo’s tank was empty at that point.

Two huge game two weeks in a row was too much.

Kerry should not have that problem this weekend and have the added benefit of firepower up front in Geeney, Clifford and Sean O’Se – something Mayo do not have in near the same abundance.

I still worry about the Kingdom defence though.

Tyrone could easily have beaten them, had they been more ruthless in the second half.

In fact, I had wondered at half-time, was Peter Keane as naïve as it appeared?

It seemed from their first half performance that Kerry had not planned for the fact that Tyrone will be defensive and hit them on the counter.

The Tyrone tactics appeared new to Kerry.

My worry is that Kerry go to play the final as if it was any other team – to worry just about their own game.

To be in the contest with 10 minutes remaining, Kerry will have to unleash ‘hell’ on Dublin.

They will need to have their match-ups right to start with.

Ciarán Kilkenny will need man-marked, as will Jack McCaffrey.

Con O’Callaghan has matured into a brilliant forward and despite a quite first half against Mayo, had the fortitude to turn the game in Dublin’s favour within 10 minutes of the second period.

He will need to be followed and hounded for the entirety.

The problem though is that we have been here before.

Dublin being Dublin, it is likely there will be a big performance in Brian Fenton or Dean Rock and it will be a case that Kerry just didn’t have enough players to go around.

Again, I go back to my original point – I hope that the game is close.

I hope it comes down to the last 5 or 10 minutes.

If Dublin win, which I believe they will, I think that it should be acknowledged that they have been one of the greatest teams ever.

They are there anyway, regardless of the result.

They have raised the bar from a standard perspective.

Teams and coaches are now having to spend the time recognising that the core skills of the game can never be taken for granted.

Shooting, catching and tackling are all key components of the Dublin ethic.

But so too is humility and generosity.

My own club was lucky to host Dean Rock and Ciarán Kilkenny for a question and answer night before the National League season ended.

A more down-to-earth and humble duo you wouldn’t meet and they took the time to coach and talk to our club mentors and underage players for the entire evening.

While there are archaic funding issues to be addressed centrally by Croke Park the current Dublin players are a special group.

Maybe they are a once in a generation whom will only be appreciated in time.

I know many football fans out there who want to see Dublin’s dominance end – want to see them beaten.

My bias as a supporter is predominantly reserved to Ulster teams.

I love to see our province performing and more importantly winning titles.

I believe when they are, Ulster football as a whole benefits on a grander scale.

Both Donegal and Tyrone aren’t far away and 2019 has seen progress for Armagh, Down and Cavan.

There are reasons to be cheerful.

However Dublin are the bar and I think we could easily see them win seven or eight in a row.

I believe they will do five.

And given the work and commitment they as a team, as a management and as a county have demonstrated they deserve to go down as history-makers.