Dara Ó Cinnéide: More scope for Kerry to get the juice from the lemons in All-Ireland decider

It's the final the majority expected to happen even in a year where we thought the most open of football championships was being played out.

They say that the cream rises to the top and it's fair to say that Dublin and Kerry have again deservedly taken their place in the All-Ireland football decider. This pair have given us many thrills on big championship days since 1975, the year when those Kingdom young guns upset Heffo's Dubs in the Croke Park rain.

A rivalry of sorts that was there in the 1950s was certainly rekindled again. Up until the mid 1980s, it was a case of honours even for a while before Kerry took over, winning September finals with a bit to spare, in spite of what the scoreboard read. The Munster men held sway when the pair collided again in the 2000s.

The pendulum then swung back in favour of Dublin following their 2011 Sam Maguire triumph.

Apart from the damp squib that was the 2015 All-Ireland decider, Dublin and Kerry fought out semi-final classics in 2013 and '16 and then gave us two games of high drama that ended with the Dubs completing that famous 'drive for five' in 2019.

Kerry folks were getting somewhat agitated .

Days out from the big firm again renewing their rivalry, Dara Ó Cinnéide elucidated such worries when telling RTÉ Sport: "There was a while when Dublin were dominating we thought we'd never be back there. It was a big thing to beat them last year."

The 2022 All-Ireland semi-final. A sun-splashed day at Croker. All level as the seconds ticked down.

With five minutes of injury-time having elapsed, and the score tied at 1-13 apiece, a tiring David Clifford manufactured a free with the last play of the game.

The kick was from well outside the 45-metre line but Seanie O'Shea opted to have a pop,