All-Ireland final day. The mantra coming out of both camps will of course be the obligatory 'it's just another game’. Nonsense. No All-Ireland is ‘just another game’. They are as different as a mock exam to the real deal, a driving lesson to the driving test, a sparring contest to a full-blooded fight.
And certainly this one is far from 'just another game'.
It is a bonafide era-defining game even before the ball is thrown in. It’s the transcendent nature of it. All-Ireland finals echo through our history, remembered in a way that other games aren’t. They are their very own time capsules, where key moments become iconic right before our eyes.
As a player you know that. One voice on your shoulder might try to hide it in a back corner of your mind while pushing the old ‘it’s just another game’ line but on the other shoulder you’ve got the mischief maker trying to distract you with the perilous ‘what if’s’.
What if we are one down and you get put through one on one deep in injury-time? What if I buck it up? Fair enough, by this stage the players have the skills to shut out that type of chat, but the truth is, that scenario is very plausible.
This game will come down to the wire. It will hinge on only a handful of key plays, mistakes or decisions. Like in nature, the pressure will produce the diamonds. Those moments and performances that excite and inspire us and that will stand the test of time.
While open to critique there is also a validity in All-Star teams being skewed towards the teams that make it to the big one. For all the players on Sunday, no matter how well they have played up to now, this season will be remembered for this one performance. It’s under the biggest pressure and against the best opponent. The ultimate no excuses day.
For Sunday, the setup couldn’t be better. The wounded all-time greats coming back for their rumoured ‘last dance’ and prove once and for all their greatness. Standing in their way the team and county surely most irked by the six in a row, which finally eclipsed Kerry’s heroes of those worn out Golden Year videos.
One team led by warriors against a team led by a supernova talent. If these two teams played ten times, it would be hard to bet against them winning five each.
There is much temptation to get into the tactical weeds but as Paul Murphy summed up in his preview interview, if there was a clear tactical advantage to be had for either team it would have come out by now.
It will come down to those several key plays. And the difference makers? You’ve got the predictables - Tom O’Sullivan, Paidi and David Clifford and Seanie O'Shea versus Cormac Costello, Ciaran Kilkenny, Brian Fenton, James McCarthy and Stephen Cluxton, but in every position and on the bench, you have players capable of having a decisive impact.
Tactically, I’m assuming Dublin do not do as some suggest and double team Clifford, yes by all means have a plus-one identified and everyone detailed to give extra support but to dedicate two men and allow Kerry have overlaps and spare men elsewhere would be a fatal move.
Kerry’s bravery in pushing Shane Ryan up to create the spare man by another means will be interesting to see. With Cluxton and Mick Fitzsimons both foregoing the modern inclination of total attack, Kerry do have opportunities to create overloads that Dublin are unlikely to replicate.
In a game of fine margins that could be key. If Kerry offer Dublin the short kick-out will Dublin accept a la Tyrone or will they be brave and look longer? Kerry are still vulnerable in this regard and it could weaponise an area were Dublin are stronger and that is aerially in the middle third.
McCarthy, Fenton, Brian Howard, Paul Mannion if he comes deeper and Ciaran Kilkenny all are ball winners of exceptional quality. We haven’t seen Cluxton go ultra-long as much since his return to his throne. Has he still got it in his locker?
Will Con O’Callaghan emerge from the shadows and remind everyone that in a summer lit up by star attackers, he remains as A-list as anyone? He’s been good. But not Con O’Callaghan good.
Same for Kilkenny. He was a swashbuckling talent when he arrived on stage. Then he became a caricature of the modern player, sticking to the percentages and keeping the ball. He’s been put on a starvation diet to see if he can rediscover his thirst for blood.
And that’s a theme I love about this game.
As Tyrone, we could be critiqued for having to have a chip on the shoulder to reach our peaks. Dublin and Kerry always appeared too high brow to have to resort to such negative, external motivation. It was for lesser teams to have to bring out the dog.
There’s been a change.
In the eyes of Kilkenny, McCarthy and Fenton, in the return of Cluxton, there is a clear anger at the thought of those jerseys being left in second place. Against Mayo in the second half, against Monaghan in those dying minutes, there was a team with a chip on the shoulder, proving itself to the world that they would not go quietly into the night.
While for Kerry, they won the All-Ireland, but they never beat the great Dublin team, just a shadow of them. But the Dublin band are back together, and Kerry have their chance. They buried demons with a ferocious, brilliant performance against Tyrone.
The fire in them that day was nothing like I’d seen in them before. And it suited them just fine. It wasn’t there to the same extent against Derry but I’m betting on it being there this afternoon.
For the game that’s in it I just truly hope that a referee call doesn’t decide it, that there is no early sending off and that our rainy season takes its leave from Jones’ Road for the day.
This is our country’s sporting day of days and I believe we will have a final for the ages. All-Irelands have that ability to make you think it is the ultimate decider, the end of the story. But next year it all happens again, and the current decider turns out not to be the big one we thought it was.
But I believe this one is different. It feels like the final role of the dice for a truly legendary side against a team and county that will want, more than anything, to slay that dragon once and for all.
"Just another game." Not a chance.
Today we get to watch history in the making. We can and do point to the games failings but sometimes we just need to marvel at what we actually have. Big games call for big leaders to stand tall. This match calls for giants. Dublin have more, Kerry have the biggest. No point trying to call it. Just enjoy it.
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
