By Rory Houston - @RTESundayGame
Kieran Donaghy is determined to make up for the disappointment of an early exit from the 2010 All-Ireland Football Championship by lifting the Sam Maguire for a fourth time on Sunday.
<notforsyndication>Watch live coverage of Dublin v Kerry on RTÉ Two and RTÉ.ie (Island of Ireland) from 2.15pm on Sunday, 18 September.</notforsyndication>
The Kingdom suffered a shock defeat to Down at the quarter-final stage last year but have fought back admirably this campaign to reach a final meeting with Dublin in three days’ time.
Donaghy said: “As a Kerry player this is where you to be. We obviously got beaten last year and the hurt from that. We felt the pain and we said at the start of the year that we would try to get back. It is not an easy game to get into.
“If you see how good this Dublin team has been over the last seven or eight years and they have never got to play in an All-Ireland final until this year.
“We knew it was going to be a hard job to get back but we’re lucky enough to be here and are trying to take the advantage of the position we’re in.”
It has been a relatively simple path to the final for Kerry, with the Munster final success over Cork and an All-Ireland semi with Mayo their toughest tests, which they passed competently.
The Kerry forward believes the two teams have had a beneficial path to Sunday’s clash.
“I think both teams have had good preparation for the final. Dublin have had an unbelievable test against Donegal and answered a lot of big questions to themselves in that game.
“Years ago they might have packed up and gone home but this year they really stuck to their guns.
“They did everything they could to win the game. Whether it was fighting for a free or winning a hard ball, they certainly had all the answers to Donegal.
“It was much the same of ourselves against Mayo. We were put to the pin of our collar early on. I suppose we got a good start to the second half that probably did the damage.
“If Mayo made that start we would have been in a dogfight for 70 minutes and we knew that.”
This weekend’s final pairing has kindled an interest and ticket demand that has not been seen in many years.
The 28-year-old thinks it shows just how good the match will be: “We played against Cork in a final and I thought I never came across a hunt for tickets like it.
“This has gone to another level. Everybody wants to go to it and how much people want to see this game tells you what it is going to be like.”
