As if we haven't fixated enough on the Dublin-Kerry rivalry for one summer, Sunday brings us the second such All-Ireland decider in a matter of weeks.
Whereas the Dublin-Kerry final is a staple of the men's game - Michael Foley on the RTÉ GAA podcast shattered the illusion that these finals always played out to the delight of the purists - in the women's code, a Dublin-Kerry final is a novelty.
Sunday's final, the 50th TG4 All-Ireland senior football final, is the first ever between the two teams.
Kerry, beaten finalists last year, are seeking to end a famine of three decades. The Kingdom remain joint top in the LGFA roll of honour but this is almost entirely a legacy of their era of total dominance in the 1980s.
The side containing the likes Mary Jo Curran and Mary Lane - the latter a mother of midfielder this weekend Lorraine Scanlon - won nine on the trot between 1982 and 1990. The first half of this run pre-dated the Croke Park era for women's football.
Those early All-Irelands were won in glamourous locations like Nenagh, Kilsheelan and Timahoe and it wasn't until 1986 that women players were accommodated in GAA HQ. (Mick Bohan expressed the hope this week that integration plans will continue apace and that the victorious captain will soon no longer have to spend a portion of their speech thanking Croke Park for the use of the facilities).
In 1993 - ironically at a time when the Kerry men's team were probably at their lowest ebb - Kerry defeated Laois to win their 11th crown. Geraldine O'Shea, five-time All-Star, future Republic of Ireland soccer international, and current Kerry backroom member, blasted home the crucial goal late in the game.
There was little reason to doubt the success would continue as it had before. But it was the beginning of a sustained famine for the Kerry women, as their era gave way to the Monaghan-Waterford duopoly that would prevail in the 90s.
For most of the 21st century, they've lived in the shadow of their neighbours to the east, Cork establishing a run of dominance comparable to Kerry's 80s heyday.
Generational players like Louise Ní Muircheartaigh emerged, the forward this week chasing her first All-Ireland medal in her 16th season, but their sole All-Ireland final appearance in this era in 2012 resulted in a nine-point loss to Cork.
Constant chopping and changing at managerial level weren't helping the situation.
Austin Stacks' stalwart Darragh Long was approached by Sean Walsh to take over the Kerry minor ladies in late 2018, immediately enlisting club rival Declan Quill from Kerins O'Rahilly's as joint-manager. The pair were elevated to the senior post in 2020 and captain Síofra O'Shea credits the stability that has settled over the squad since then as key to their rise.
After an abject 2021 season, the big leap was made in 2022. Having only escaped Division 2 that spring, they defeated Galway, Armagh and then Mayo en route to a first final in a decade.
While the eventual loss to a rampant Meath provoked hurt, they returned emboldened in 2023.
From the moment of their five-goal demolition of Galway in the league final - a win which sealed a first Division 1 title since 1991 - Kerry have been installed as All-Ireland favourites in 2023.
While Ní Muicheartaigh has long been their billboard star, the league decider showcased the depth in attack and their widespread scoring threat, with Niamh Ní Conchuir and Hannah O'Donoghue notching 2-01 and 1-03 respectively, with O'Shea also rattling the net.
Meath, in a state of managerial flux, had seemingly vacated the pitch and fell down the running order, while the Dubs were supposed to be in transition.
There was a hiccup in the shape of another Munster final loss to Cork but they reacted well with a landmark group stage win over Dublin in Parnell Park.
They gained revenge against a relatively out-of-sorts Meath in the quarter-final but were subsequently hit with a sucker punch with an injury to O'Shea, the latest high profile victim of the ACL epidemic in women's sport.
Ní Muircheartaigh, installed as on-field captain and gunning to shed the unwanted tag of greatest player never to win an All-Ireland, delivered a bravura display in the semi-final, racking up 1-11 as Mayo were dispatched in the last-four for the second year running.
Approaching another decider, the managerial brains trust insist Kerry are a more mature and better steeled outfit than 12 months ago but standing in the way is a Dublin team who have navigated their way a transitional period remarkable in its brevity.
Four-in-a-row winning manager Mick Bohan was prepared to drop the mic after the 2021 All-Ireland final, only to abruptly decide against following the shock loss to Meath.
He told reporters this week that "I was gone" in the immediate aftermath of the quarter-final exit to Donegal in Carrick-on-Shannon last summer. Again, he held back from calling time on his reign.
Several players didn't and there was a mini exodus in the off-season, with Sinead Goldrick and Lyndsey Davey among those to walk. Sinead Aherne, the only survivor from Dublin's maiden All-Ireland title in 2010, was persuaded to stay by Bohan after sustained lobbying and the 37-year old is again part of the squad this afternoon.
Nonetheless, it was supposed to be a transitional period for the capital's women, with captain Carla Rowe acknowledging at the start of the year that this was the first year she had doubted the team's capacity to reach a decider at the outset. Bohan, himself, bluntly admits he didn't expect to be back here so soon.
Despite the departures, the team was hardly short of leaders, with four-in-a-row winner Rowe and Player of the Year candidate Jennifer Dunne among them.
The league witnessed sobering defeats to Kerry and Galway but they were back in rude health come championship, capitalising on Meath's new-found woes to retain the Leinster title.
While the group stage clash to Kerry ended in two-point defeat, the Dubs had produced a rousing rally in the second half to almost rescue the match, with Bohan pinpointing the game as the moment when he realised the team was capable of mounting a big tilt in 2023, ahead of the supposed schedule.
The chatter surrounding that match helpfully provides us with some back-story ahead of Sunday. The Dublin manager, who in the past called for greater physicality in the women's game, evidently felt things got out of hand in the Parnell Park and was reportedly unhappy with some of the Kerry tackling in the game.
Dublin had been "bullied" according to their manager; Darragh Long responded that this was called physicality. The Dubs were back to their galloping, rip-roaring best in their semi-final demolition of Cork, Dunne racking up 0-04 from midfield, Lauren McGee with 0-02 from wing-back, while Rowe and former rugby international Hannah Tyrrell registered 1-02 apiece.
Having spent two years grappling with Meath's defensive system, Bohan - always determined to "be true to our values" - is looking to a game of front-foot football at the weekend.
"If we weren't up against them, I’d be wishing them well," says Bohan. "But we’re up against them, so that changes everything. I like the way they play, they play the game on the front foot."
The Kerry gaffers, who appear to enjoy a jovial relationship with Bohan despite the salty comments after the Donnycarney clash, insist, with a glint, that the pressure is on the Dubs to do the double.
Cora Staunton, on the Kerry train since the start, admits she's wavering since Dublin's resurgence but holds firm in her prediction for this afternoon.
"I think Kerry have probably the more balanced team," Staunton said on Morning Ireland last Friday. "Especially in the forward line, even with the loss of their captain Siofra O'Shea. They have the better shooters up there.
"If they can in any way nullify Jennifer Dunne, who has been Player of the Year so far, I think they'll go a long way to winning it.
"I have been Kerry all year. I'm probably sticking with Kerry, just about."
