The more things change, the more they stay the same - Dublin and Kerry's dominance of Gaelic football endures

With 1979 drawing to a close, then Kerry manager Mick O'Dwyer gave an interview to Eugene McGee of the Sunday Press.

McGee also happened to be the Offaly football manager. He would lead the Faithful County to the first of three successive Leinster titles in 1980, and in 1982, after semi-final and final defeats to Kerry, would finally get the better of O’Dwyer in one of the most talked about deciders in the association’s history.

All that would follow, but that December, McGee was primarily concerned with O'Dwyer's thoughts on the game in general.

O’Dwyer had much to be pleased about. Not only was Sam Maguire spending a second successive winter in their possession – the third of eight titles he would lead his county to – it had been collected in devastating fashion.

The wins of '75 (Kerry’s tyros), ‘78 (ending Dublin’s three-in-row bid), ‘80 (repelling Matt Connor in a semi-final and a pumped-up Roscommon in the decider) and ‘86 (a final swansong) all have their own merits, but there is a strong argument that 1979 was the best of the lot.

It began with the Massacre of Milltown Malbay where Clare were taken for 9-21. Cork at least put up a little more resistance, the 10-point Munster final defeat was the closest anyone would get in the championship.

For those of the view that the Munster championship has only recently gone past its sell-by date, Kerry’s 46-point aggregate winning margin in claiming the '79 provincial title was 12 points more than in 2023.

Monaghan were then pulverised, brutalised 5-14 to 0-07 in a lopsided semi, before Mikey Sheehy gave an exhibition as they swept aside a jaded Dublin by 11 points in one of the most comprehensive All-Ireland football final successes ever.

"We were at our best that year," says