And so it's Kerry and Dublin to meet again on the day when Sam Maguire will be handed out.
Both counties were given stern tests by Ulster opposition in their respective semi-finals, with the Kingdom, just like the Dubs against Monaghan, producing a clinical late surge to edge Derry by two points in Sunday's absorbing semi-final at Croke Park.
For much of the game it was the reigning All-Ireland champions who were chasing the game and their opponents did spurn a couple of goal chances.
"There were several times during that game when we could have thrown in the towel," was O'Connor's initial reaction when he spoke to RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"We were struggling badly in certain areas; they were getting through us too easily in the first half."
How his side responded did please the Kingdom boss, however, against such doughty opponents.
"They showed leadership and really went after it in the second half; they showed the hunger and the desire that you need to show to get over these tight games. Derry played very well, you can't take anything away from Derry, they were fantastic for huge parts of that game and had us in big trouble.
"This was the test we expected and it will hopefully bring us on another bit and steel us for the final."
On how Kerry got to grips with things in the second period, O'Connor added: "In the second half we adjusted and tactically we dropped off their kickout a bit and formed a better defensive line a bit higher up the pitch.
"They didn't make the same amount of incursions into the scoring zone as they did in the first half. They were getting scores too easily in the first half but the leadership fellas showed, what David Clifford did was unbelievable; the man was doing everything; he was back in his own full-back line.
"The name of the game in semi-finals is to get over them; it doesn't have to be a champagne performance. We've two weeks to work on it, you'd expect that game to bring us on. It was an intense game. That was a ferociously intense game; Derry have some serious footballers.
"That young [Conor] McCloskey, corner back there, the amount of ground that man covered was incredible. They have great leaders: Rodgers [Brendan], Glass [Conor], but we have leaders too and they came to the fore when we needed them most. Well done to our boys."
With nine points, David Clifford again lead the scoring charge for his county, and also speaking to RTÉ Sport, highlighted what ultimately got his side over the line.
"We probably came way from our principles in the first half, we were very passive and were coming out through us very easily. The second half we got a bit of momentum but still struggled to get scores on the board. We were panicky at times and they could have punished us.
"We were very relived to get of here.
"We had a better impact on (Odhran) Lynch's kickouts in the last ten minutes, that's something we had targeted. We hadn't hit anywhere near our targets. We won three or four of his kickouts late in the game and that gave us the platform to get scores."
It was clear to see the disappointment in the words uttered by Derry boss Ciarán Meenagh, when he spoke with Damian Lawlor.
"It's devastating; I'm in a state of shock, so it's hard to compose my thought process. We had them on the ropes, we really had them on the ropes at half-time, and had them on the ropes on 60 minutes, we looked like we were going to score every time we attacked.
"Maybe the experience will stand to the group. We came with a plan. If we were to listen to the outside noise we weren't given a chance; we were extremely confident coming into the game and thought we had the tools to deal with Kerry.
"They went without a sweeper and we were prepared for that. We cut them to shreds because of that. All those things worked so well.
"The things we were so hypersensitive of; the turovers and not taking our chances and our own kick-outs were the things that haunted us coming down the stretch."
