Dubs back to their best ahead of Kingdom test in All-Ireland Final

THERE is an air of excitement this week as Dublin prepare to step out in front of a sold-out Croke Park to face a stacked Kerry team in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final on Sunday.

It is the biggest day in the GAA calendar; All-Ireland Final day – and the Boys in Blue are back in with a shout after a year in the trenches.

As far as results go, it was business as usual for the team which dominated every encounter for nearly a decade with Dessie Farrell’s men securing a return to Division One in the league and winning another Leinster Championship.

Dublin are addicted to the “process”, a buzzword that is used to define their cool, calculated game-plan which they have executed with general ease for a long time now.

In recent years, a wrench was thrown in the gears of the process with a series of stalwarts retiring and Clondalkin man Jim Gavin stepping away from the management position.

The leaders which defined a generation and were standard bearers of the process were gone, and other counties started to catch up – including old rivals Kerry under Jack O’Connor.

Cian Murphy from Thomas Davis and Lee Gannon after the Leinster final with the trophy

It felt like Farrell’s appointment would be WD40 needed to lubricate the gears and get them back to their brilliant best, but it was not so clear cut as he needed to find new parts.

It took the best part of two years to iron out the creases, helped with with the likes of Stephen Cluxton, Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion returning to the panel.

“Dublin didn’t get out of second gear,” is said so commonly among the Hill 16 faithful, defining how easy Dublin have found it this season.

Now, the Liffeysiders appear to be back firing on all cylinders and there is nothing like a dual with the Kingdom to get them back out at top speed.

Colm Basquel from Ballyboden St Enda’s

While James McCarthy and Brian Fenton have never been better, Dublin are adding new faces to the squad and they fit the bill – and more importantly, the “process”.

Lucan Sarsfields man Daire Newcombe was an excellent addition to the panel this year at corner back and Thomas Davis’ Cian Murphy is impressing more every time he steps on the field.

Blooding new players had been somewhat of an issue but someone who has been knocking around for nearly five-years, Colm Basquel has been a revelation in the forward line.

All the cards seem to be falling into place at the right time for Dublin to exact revenge on Kerry for the devastating one-point defeat in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.

Niall Scully from Templeogue Synge Street

On Kerry’s run to the final, they claimed the Munster title and followed it up with wins over Cork and Louth, along with a defeat to Mayo, in the group stage of the All-Ireland.

Beating Tyrone in he quarters teed the Kingdom up for an epic dual with Derry in the penultimate round, in which O’Connor’s men stuck to their own process to see out the encounter.

Similar to the Dublin late flurry, it was a spell of 10- minutes late-on in which Kerry captain Seán O’Shea, Stephen O’Brien and the awe-inspiring David Clifford kicked scores that sowed Derry’s fate.

Dublin and Kerry are the two most successful teams in the history of the competition, with the latest showdown expected to deliver fireworks.

The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final between Dublin and Kerry throws-in at 3.30pm on Sunday in Croke Park.

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