Jack O'Connor's record against Dublin as Kerry manager is remarkable, considering it comes either side of the greatest period the Metropolitans have ever enjoyed.
Going back all the way to 2004, a strong second-half showing saw O'Connor's side finish off Tommy Lyons' time in charge in the capital with a 1-15 to 1-08 victory, when a late Jason Sherlock goal took some of the bad look off the scoreboard for the Dubs.
Fast forward five years and, after Dublin had pushed Kerry close in the 2007 All-Ireland semi-final with Pat O'Shea then in charge, a new phrase entered the GAA lexicon - "startled earwigs."
It was the term used by Dublin manager Pat Gilroy to describe the response of his players to a fast start by the men from the Kingdom, then back under O'Connor's tutelage, to their All-Ireland quarter-final meeting. The Munster men went on to win the game by 17 points.
Jack O'Connor's Kerry v Dublin record:
Championship: P: 4 W: 3 L: 1
League: P: 8 W: 4 L: 2 D: 2
Total: P: 12 W: 8 L: 3 D: 1
It made Dublin's victory over Kerry two years later all the more surprising but normal order was resumed, with O'Connor, involved at least, when his side saw off the Dubs in last year's semi.
Add to that the league meetings between the counties in O'Connor's first two stints in charge, and the record is even more startling, with Dublin failing to register victories over Kerry between 2004-2006, as well as in 2009, before finally putting back-to-back spring triumphs together in 2010-2011.
Kerry were eight-point winners in Tralee last year, while the sides didn't meet this spring as the Dubs spent the early part of the inter-county season trying to gain promotion from Division 2.
What Kerry tended to perfect in O'Connor's first two stints in charge was the timing of their run. Many in 2009 had Dublin as favourites ahead of their last-eight clash, but the men from the Kingdom were able to go up a couple of gears and completely outclass the Blues.
"The pace and athleticism that Dublin have coming out of defence on the counter attack, you have to find some way of slowing that down to give yourself a chance"
While no one is realistically suggesting either county can win comfortably on Sunday, there are echoes of 2009 as Kerry prepare for Sunday's showpiece.
Fourteen years ago they were well beaten by Cork in Munster before labouring past Longford, Sligo and Antrim before the quarter-finals. This year they won Munster comfortably, before a rare loss in Killarney to Mayo.
They had a contentious penalty call on their side in seeing off Cork before they clicked into gear to top the group with an annihilation of Louth and a cathartic victory over Tyrone in the quarter-finals.
For O'Connor, speaking to RTÉ Sport in the build up to the final, it's a case of trying to time their run all over again.
"That's the name of the game," he concurred.
"But it can be a delicate balancing act because there were many periods this year when, to a lot of observers, it looked like we were never going to get to the pitch of where we needed to get.
"In the middle of May in Killarney we got a good beating from Mayo. Many people wouldn't have given us much chance then of doing a pre-All-Ireland press day.
"It's a delicate balancing act but we always felt that there was improvement in us because we'd come back late; a lot later than a lot of the teams we had been playing.
"If we chugged along, we'd hit form eventually."
One thing O'Connor hasn't achieved before is back-to-back titles with Kerry. He was in charge for three of the four that they won between 2004 and 2009, which helped them to move one ahead of Tyrone in terms of Sam Maguire successes in that decade.
The county managed it in 2006-07 but O'Connor wasn't in charge, having stepped back in between the two victories.
While the Dublin team of 2011-2020 tore up the script when it came to consecutive Sam Maguire successes, it's considered a massive achievement in normal times to be able to collect a set of Celtic Crosses back to back.
"These are self-motivated lads," O'Connor says when asked about the motivation to do it all again after last year.
"They're very driven boys and very focused. It wasn't difficult at all to motivate them.
"The nature of the club season last year meant it went very late. We had to give the boys a bit of a break. They had a late holiday around Christmas, so that meant preparations started much later than virtually every other team in the country."
And so to Sunday's game, which O'Connor says he expects to be "high-octane and played at a ferocious pace".
The secret to stopping Dublin will be, according to the Kerry manager, preventing them breaking at pace.
There's a big case to be made that this is the greatest team we've every seen, with some of the greatest players we've ever seen and that is the big motivation for Dublin," he said.
"They have three players on eight All-Ireland medals and they want to win one more and separate themselves from the five Kerry lads that have the eight.
"They have huge motivation but we'll try to make it as tough as we can on them.
"The pace and athleticism that Dublin have coming out of defence on the counter attack, you have to find some way of slowing that down to give yourself a chance.
"They're a sight to behold when they break at pace, and in numbers, from the back, so that's a big key for us.
"Dublin have a huge squad and a big impact to come off the bench," he added.
"It has proved to be a successful formula for them down through the years. Many of those All-Irelands were won when fresh legs came on in the last 10 minutes.
"We realise that's a big obstacle for us to overcome. The key is to be in the game down the stretch and let it pan out with which bench is strongest.
"We're hungry, we're finding a bit of form, well tested going into this final, and I think we'll give a good account of ourselves."
Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final, Dublin v Kerry, this Sunday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio
