Dublin's ability to find that extra gear when it matters most will again be a trump card in their favour when they face Mayo in September's All-Ireland football final, says Colm O'Rourke.
Jim Gavin's side were put to the pin of their collar against Kerry in Sunday's semi-final at Croke Park, but stoppage-time points from sub Eoghan O’Gara and Diarmuid Connolly saw them advance to the decider and so keep on them on course to retain Sam Maguire.
"Dublin have this belief that they will keep going till the end, and against Kerry as has been the case against other teams, they finished very well," O'Rourke explained on The Sunday Game.
In a further assessment of this current Dublin side, the former Meath star referenced the work of author Bram Stoker.
"They are a bit like Dracula - unless you put the stake through them you won't beat them," he said.
O'Rourke, while accepting that Mayo have not have been setting the world on fire in this championship campaign, is hopeful that they have a productive 70 minutes in them when they return to Croke Park on 18 September and added: "All Mayo have to do is play well once to be All-Ireland champions.
"I can't see it but I hope it happens. Along with Dublin, Kerry and Donegal, they have been a top team in this decade and they probably do deserve to win an All-Ireland.
"The difficulty for Mayo is that they don't have as many good players as Dublin. They may have ten but they certainly don't have the other five and don't have as good a bench as Dublin."
Liam Kearns, who guided Tipperary to the last four in this year's All-Ireland race, feels that the westerners will have to find "something special" if they are lift Sam in three weeks' time.
Also speaking on the Sunday Game, he outlined: "In fairness to Mayo, I think they have been adaptable all the way through and they've done different things.
"Barry Moran played as a sweeper against us and he hadn't been used there all year. I would give them credit in that regard but theyare going to have to find something they haven't found so far.
"They'll have to find a balance between defence and attack. Having looked at Kerry, I'm sure they'll come up with a gameplan to try and usurp Dublin but I feel it will take something very special for them to do that."
