At the end of the most 'open' championship in years, we wind up here again, with Dublin and Kerry.
When Kerry last beat Dublin in an All-Ireland final in 1985, most journalists and pundits were wearying of the same old pairing.
In advance of this year's semi-finals, it was telling that this was the decider most desired by neutrals, save for in Ulster.
Today's game has the feel of an epochal clash.
A Dublin team who may - may - be approaching the twilight of their dominance and a Kerry side seeking to reclaim their perch once and for all.
During the apocalyptic years of the late 2010s, there was a widespread view that Dublin would be winning All-Irelands in perpetuity and that going forward the benighted entity known as the rest of Ireland would be lucky to squeak a couple of them a decade.
That the capital city, with its vast human and financial resources, had at last created a Gaelic footballing high performance unit and a talent production system which your average county team had no hope of matching.
Those fears have abated somewhat since. All it took was a couple of All-Ireland semi-final slip-ups. It's also become apparent that the succeeding generation aren't quite tearing up trees compared to the class of 2013, aka, the '93s.
The phrase 'golden generation' became a contested one during this time with the rural doom-mongers insisting that this crop in fact represented the new normal: get used to it. As of 2023, this viewpoint appears less credible than it was.
The core of said golden generation - the players born in 1993, Jack McCaffrey, Brian Fenton, Ciaran Kilkenny, Paul Mannion - are either fast approaching 30 or already 'the wrong side' of it.
The goalkeeper is so far the wrong side of 30 that he's now the wrong side of 41. Restoring a 41-year-old goalkeeper to the starting line-up - especially one who'd taken an unannounced career sabbatical in his late 30s - could hardly be regarded as a vote of confidence in the next generation.
David O'Hanlon hardly discredited himself while in the jersey. It doesn't exactly scream future-proofing but the normal rules don't really apply with Cluxton. There's no indication either that he's about to retire. Tom Brady, after all, kept going until 45.
He now has 13 successive clean sheets in the championship since Killian Spillane beat him at the near post in the drawn 2019 final.
It was a source of panicked despair for Dublin's rivals in the 2010s that Jim Gavin managed to maintain the winning run while keeping the average age down. Indeed, it was cited as one of the chief reasons why they differed from the temporary dynasties of the past.
It has definitely ticked upwards now. While the outlier Cluxton skews it to some degree, the average age is now over 29, making them marginally older than the Kerry team of 1986, hitherto regarded as the oldest team to win Sam in the colour television era.
Out on the pitch, experience has been bluntly preferred to youth, with Tom Lahiff and Lorcan O'Dell, starters last year, relegated to the bench in 2023.
The extent to which Dublin have strengthened in 12 months is emphasised by Cormac Costello being the only member of the starting forward line from the 2022 semi-final to retain his place in attack for Sunday.
Paul Mannion and Con O'Callaghan, the latter famously injured last July, will start. Colm Basquel finally nailed down a starting place while Paddy Small starts this time.
James McCarthy and Brian Howard, named in the half forward line last year, are deployed further back the pitch.
As per the named team, Kilkenny, the only Dublin All-Star for the last two campaigns, is again held in reserve, though he was thrown into the fray for NIall Scully before half-time against Monaghan. The narrative is set now that Kilkenny is being penalised for passing the ball sideways one too many times.
After a poor showing in the drawn 2019 final, he was presented with the Man of the Match trophy in the Gibson after the replay and naturally it wouldn't be shock to see him in from the beginning.
Dean Rock, who was more or less a passenger in last year's semi-final, is back to being a 'finisher', and cut a noticeably spiky and agitated figure when introduced very late in the Leinster final.
Dessie Farrell was quick to allude to the worth of experience and squad depth, implying that this was where they fell short in '21 and '22. The necessary adjustments have been made for 2023, although critics might suggest it's at the expense of the next generation.
Kerry's 2022 All-Ireland victory was their most important since 1997 and the explosion of relief was palpable in the stadium in the dying minutes of last year's decider. It was a touch more laboured and nervy than some of the swaggering triumphs of the noughties, though no one cared much in the circumstances.
Their form has been patchy and uneven for much of 2023, though the quarter-final demolition of Tyrone - mistakenly pegged beforehand as a dangerous game - was the most devastating display of Jack O'Connor's third stint thus far.
It was all the more impressive given Clifford's radar was askew that afternoon, though he did provide us with another viral moment via his role in Seanie O'Shea's goal, which was later namechecked in an Oireachtas Committee.
There were caveats in the form of Tyrone's bafflingly unreliable form since 2021 but the aggression and alertness of Kerry's defence was especially striking.
There was a sense after the Tyrone game that Kerry's 2023 season up to then had been, in retrospect, a lot of meaningless preamble.
Nonetheless, the shock loss at home to Mayo in Killarney should have been more costly than it was.
Mayo's inexplicable implosion against Cork spared Kerry the exertions of a preliminary quarter-final and they arrived at the last-eight well tuned.
As with the Dubs in their semi against Monaghan, it was Kerry's aggressive pressing of the Derry kick-out which turned the tide late on.
While the Dublin surge was anticipated, Kerry, by contrast, appeared to be gasping for air with 10 minutes remaining. O'Connor afterwards bemoaned the difficulty of getting messages onto the pitch in the noise of Croke Park and said they'd been trying to get the players to press up on the kickout, knowing that if they gave up short ones they were allowing Derry run down the clock.
After a 17-minute scoring drought, a bitterly contested free awarded to Stephen O'Brien allowed Kerry a foothold and they never let up from there. In a reversal from the quarter-final, Kerry were again inordinately reliant on Clifford's brilliance, the Footballer of the Year racking up 0-09, four from play, against the marking of Chrissy McKaigue. However, Seanie O'Shea, after a quiet first half, did get into the scoring groove in the third quarter.
These were the days for which he told the Aussie Rules scouts to look elsewhere. Kerry's anointed one was born for this
O'Brien, a half-time replacement for the subdued Adrian Spillane, has been rewarded for his livewire second half display with a starting berth for the final. While the unlucky Tony Brosnan misses out with a respiratory condition, Killian Spillane, their modern super sub, does return to the substitutes bench after a lengthy period out.
Notwithstanding the venerable Cluxton back in situ at the other end, Shane Ryan is the leading candidate for All-Star goalkeeper. His faultless kick-outs under severe pressure late in last year's semi-final was vital to Kerry getting over the line.
Kerry certainly require more from their supporting cast of attackers - Paudie Clifford, Dara Moynihan and Paul Geaney struggled to impact the semi-final - but it feels like it will take a signature display from the great David Clifford. These were the days for which he told the Aussie Rules scouts to look elsewhere. Kerry's anointed one was born for this.
The collision between an ageing team of greats and their likely successors promises a thrilling crescendo to what has been an often pedestrian football championship.
Dublin haven't lost an All-Ireland final since that rain sodden day in 1994, when Martin McGuinness double DJ Kane lifted Sam and Charlie Redmond endured more penalty trauma on the biggest day.
The 90s Dubs were considered nearly men prone to final jitters, an accusation which hardly dimmed when they finally crawled over the line in 95. The 2010s generation created an entirely different identity and legacy.
They've now won their last nine All-Ireland finals, a couple after replays. Dublin's selection choices have left people with the impression that they're gunning for this one before the sun sets on their empire. To lift McCarthy, Fitzsimons and Cluxton above the Kerry quintet onto a historic ninth All-Ireland.
Predictions are futile though forced to pick, we'll give the nod to Dublin and their wider spread of scoring forwards and more potent subs bench.
Named teams
Dublin: Stephen Cluxton; Eoin Murchan, Michael Fitzsimons, David Byrne; James McCarthy, John Small, Lee Gannon; Brian Fenton, Brian Howard; Paddy Small, Paul Mannion, Niall Scully; Cormac Costello, Con O'Callaghan, Colm Basquel.
Subs: Evan Comerford, Sean Bugler, Ciaran Kilkenny, Tom Lahiff, Sean MacMahon, Jack McCaffrey, Ross McGarry, Cian Murphy, Daire Newcombe, Lorcan O'Dell, Dean Rock.
Kerry: Shane Ryan; Graham O'Sullivan, Jason Foley, Tom O'Sullivan; Paul Murphy, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White; Diarmuid O'Connor, Jack Barry; Dara Moynihan, Seán O'Shea, Stephen O'Brien; Paudie Clifford, David Clifford, Paul Geaney.
Subs: Shane Murphy, Adrian Spillane, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Mike Breen, Barry Dan O'Sullivan, Ruairí Murphy, Micheál Burns, Killian Spillane, Dylan Casey, Donal O'Sullivan, Ronan Buckley.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts
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
