In 2013 Jim Gavin’s Dublin won the All-Ireland in swashbuckling style and they set about the defence of Sam Maguire in 2014 in similar fashion.
They blasted their way out of Leinster and on into the All-Ireland series, blitzed Monaghan in a quarter-final and set up a last-four meeting with 2012 champions Donegal.
It was to be an intriguing clash of styles - the Dubs' traditional approach against Donegal, under forward-thinking manager Jim McGuinness, with their well-drilled defensive system.
I think our game-plan continues to change - Jim Gavin
At stages in the first half the Boys in Blue looked like they were going to cut loose, with Diarmuid Connolly and Bernard Brogan both missing great goal chances, yet they ended up going in a point down, 1-08 to 0-10 thanks to Ryan McHugh’s green flag.
The Dubs had a bit of thinking to do at the break. They could have adopted a more safety-first approach and tried to chip away with points. But they didn’t - instead they doubled down and went all-out attack.
This lead to a thrilling game, with Gavin’s side battering down the door at one end and looking hopelessly exposed at the other any time Donegal broke up the field.
In the end McGuinness triumphed, his side winning 3-14 to 0-17 and in truth they could have won by far more with the amount of goals they could have scored.
After that game, according to former Dublin captain Alan Brogan, Gavin became obsessed by defensive systems and cracking teams that line up with men behind the ball.
Twelve months later they were All-Ireland champions again, this time featuring Cian O’Sullivan in the sweeper. Gavin had learned his lesson - there was to be no more all-out attack and there would be greater patience when playing defensively-minded teams.
Of course, the man himself isn’t keen to admit as much as he looks forward to what will be one of the biggest challenges of his Dublin management - Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Mickey Harte’s superbly drilled Tyrone.
"I think what's fair to say is that there's always learning to be got from each game we play," he said.
"That has always been the philosophy within the team, there's always been that learning culture to see what we can get from each game, whether we win, lose or draw. And 2014 was no different.
"On that day my recollection of it is that we were beaten by a better team, and in 2014 Kerry won the All-Ireland. So that's learning for us. You're always trying to build on that in every game."
Tyrone are a team capable of posing Dublin some serious questions, with their double-sweeper system and their quick-breaking style. They often only play one man up - Mark Bradley - but when they go on the attack they break in numbers.
Harte was a pioneer of the new style of football that many of the top teams now employ in at least some of their games, winning the first of three All-Irelands with the Red Hand County in 2003.
Gavin learned his harshest lesson against Donegal in 2014 - a match that stands out as his sole Championship loss in four seasons and Sunday will represent a similar sort of challenge.
"I think our game-plan continues to change," he said. "If you go back five years, football has changed, if you go back ten, 20 years the game of Gaelic football continues to change.
"It's a fantastic time to be involved in it as a coach where there's a lot of innovation going on, it's continued to grow. You can see even for the Tyrone game, the way it continues to evolve and we're going to have to keep adapting to keep up with them."
Live coverage of Kerry v Mayo in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final replay on The Saturday Game from 2.15pm on RTÉ One, with live radio commentary on Saturday Sport, RTÉ Radio 1 from 2pm.
Live coverage of Dublin v Tyrone in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final on The Sunday Game from 3.15pm on RTÉ2, with live radio commentary on Saturday Sport, RTÉ Radio 1 from 2pm.
Live blog on the day's football action on RTE Sport Online and the News Now App from 2pm on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday.
Highlights of all the weekend's GAA action on The Sunday Game on RTÉ2 from 9.30pm.
