Three days out from the biggest day of the football summer. The 2023 championship has struggled to catch fire in many respects but the final has all the ingredients to provide a classic.
There's been many gripes aired about the speeded up inter-county season, which has its pros and cons, though it certainly doesn't aid the early week build-up to the All-Ireland finals. By Tuesday, we were still digesting what went down in the hurling final and there's not enough space to confront what's coming.
We're at Thursday now and the build-up is bubbling nicely ahead of what has the potential to be one of those iconic All-Ireland finals, one that lives long in the memory.
There's so much at stake for the two teams. It's a proper battle for supremacy.
Can the Dubs reclaim their spot as top dogs, with James McCarthy, Stephen Cluxton and Mick Fitzsimons usurping the Kerry legends to win nine titles? Or will Kerry beat a locked and loaded Dublin to win two-in-a-row and signal a complete power shift in the game?
Dublin and Kerry have managed the new format best in timing their run to peak for the knockouts. The system probably suits them in that their provincial championships are, with respect, a waste of time. So they're more than likely going through a 'loading' phase, training really heavily with a view to hitting full tilt by July. Hence we saw some leggy and lethargic displays by the two finalists early in the season.
Mayo did Kerry a further favour by malfunctioning horribly in the round robin against Cork, shunting them into a do-or-die clash with Galway, who had also sabotaged their own season by losing late on against Armagh. For Kevin and the Mayo lads, we saw the full cost of this in their flatness in the second half of the quarter-final. As against that, Dublin and Kerry had the week off to prepare for the final stretch, exploding into form in the last-eight games.
When they decide to turn it on, these are the two best teams in the country. Though neither side, I feel, have been quite up to the standard of previous years yet this summer.
While they've shown flashes of their former greatness, Dublin are not the relentless, bullet-proof outfit we saw in the late 2010s. As for Kerry, meanwhile, I'm not sure they're ticking over as well as they were last year. Against Derry, I think they gave up more goal chances in one game than they did in the whole of the 2022 championship.
The Dubs are a compelling story in 2023. They've brought the old gang back together and as Jack O'Connor noted after the semi-finals, they didn't do it "for the craic". We wondered all year what influence would the return of Stephen Cluxton and Jack McCaffrey have on the team. There was a notion that turning once more to Cluxton was a sign of desperation. But we've seen the answer, at any rate.
They're back in an All-Ireland final and Clucko still hasn't conceded a goal in championship since pre-pandemic.
The unprecedented ninth All-Ireland SFC medal dangles before them this weekend. Although you wouldn't know how much that'll count for them. Some of those Dublin lads are weird - a good brand of weird. We think in those terms but I'm not sure they do. They can be relentless and almost robotic in their focus.
The biggest selection question for Dublin is whether Ciaran Kilkenny is back in the starting XV. Why is he being held in reserve? There's rumours he was nursing a small injury, then there's the theory that his play had become a bit too lateral, too safety-first and lacking in dynamism.
My hunch is that they're challenging him, telling him we need more out of you. It's provoked the desired response before. He was held scoreless in the 2019 draw and was hit with heavy criticism afterwards.
Then he responded with a Man of the Match performance in the replay, landing four points from play, a good number in the first 15 minutes or so. He was into the fray before half-time against Monaghan and I would be inclined to start him for the final.
Dessie Farrell said he's been 'kept up late at night' trying to work out a way to contain David Clifford. In many ways, teams are effectively resigned to Clifford sticking over a few points from play. Derry boss Ciaran Meenagh admitted as much after the semi, saying their target wasn't 'stopping' him, so much as 'managing his impact'.
To my mind, it would be a mistake for Dublin to fall into some defensive shell in an attempt to smother Clifford. They would limit their scoring potential if they went down that route. They'd be better going man-to-man where I think they have enough scoring options to do damage themselves at the other end.
If Clifford is off-form, then the pendulum swings heavily towards Dublin. While they played well as an attacking unit in the second half of the quarter-final, Kerry need more from the rest of their forwards to lift some of the burden on the great man.
Seanie O'Shea came good in the second half against Derry after a quiet opening '35. But Paudie Clifford was very subdued by his own standards. How do they get Paul Geaney into the game?
Kerry's bench has looked quite weak up to now, though it is certainly boosted by the return of Killian Spillane.
Stephen O'Brien offered great energy and played superbly on his introduction against Derry but otherwise, their game-changing options look slim enough.
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Tony Brosnan, now ruled out altogether, has shown plenty of promise but as yet has struggled to deliver in big games, Micheál Burns isn't really a scoring forward, more of a workhorse.
They got away with Clifford carrying most of the scoring load against Derry and in last year's All-Ireland final. I'm not sure they will on Sunday. Dublin are too far down the track for that and have too many winners in their ranks.
Ultimately, while Kerry have the greatest player in the game, Dublin have a greater range of scoring options across their forward line - and even further back the field.
Cormac Costello is in super form, racked up a big scoring haul against Monaghan. Colm Basquel probably won't be as quiet as he was in the semi-final. Con O'Callaghan is going about his business relatively quietly but doing enough. He was fairly prominent in his absence in last year's semi, as we'll recall. He could easily spark into life.
Brian Fenton and James McCarthy are both playing brilliantly in the middle of the field. And Fenton, in particular, is good to chip in with a couple of scores. Then, there's the question of whether Ciaran Kilkenny will start, a good selection problem to have.
When Derry attacked Kerry at pace the last day, they found gaps and easily created enough chances to win the game.
Kerry got a big monkey off their back in overcoming Dublin last year. Some baggage was shed, no doubt. The alternative question is, how much did that annoy and motivate the Dubs?
I suspect they're pretty anxious to put a stop to the two-in-a-row and halt Kerry's gallop before they get in their stride. As well as having the older fellas setting a few major records of their own. A win will shut up the media that had been touting their demise for a while.
I've backed Dublin since the start of the year. There's no reason to change now.
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