Ger Brennan: Showdown hinges on Clifford & O'Callaghan

Ger Brennan pulls no punches when he reflects on Dublin's 2009 'startled earwigs' collapse against Kerry.

"We s**t ourselves," he says now. "We were mentally weak and we didn't have the balls to stand up to Kerry and try to overcome them."

Two years later, Pat Gilroy's men went into the All-Ireland SFC final against the Kingdom having lost the previous eight games between the counties. Scarred - but ravenously hungry - they got over the line.

Stephen Cluxton's dramatic late free earned Dublin glory in that decider, and triggered a swing in momentum that's seen the Dubs lord it over Kerry ever since.

It's 13 years since Kerry tasted a championship win against the Sky Blues and, ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final, Brennan admitted he can see similarities between the current Kingdom crop and the Dubs' class of 2011.

"(Jack O'Connor) has a similar dressing room now (to what) Pat Gilroy had with us going into 2011," Brennan said at an event to mark Friday's Electric Ireland MFC final between Galway and Mayo.

"Will Kerry actually have the belief going into the home straight, whether they're a couple of points up, or a couple behind? Because for me that's all that's going to be in it. That's the question I'd say Jack O'Connor will ask them beforehand.

"Do you want to be known as bottlers, that you can't get over this Dublin team? Or do you want to be known as the team that eventually got the monkey off their back after 13 years of being dominated by Dublin?

"Human beings are human beings. What motivates and triggers us hasn't really evolved that much in the thousands of years we've been on this earth. Being able to find the right words as a manager is part of what makes a manager great and successful."

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