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Kieran Shannon: Should Dublin have gone after it a bit bolder?

Although Dublin got it down to three points late on, there was never a sense Kerry were in danger the way they were against Tyrone a fortnight ago

NOT BOLD ENOUGH: Seán Bugler, left, and Colm Basquel after Dublin's loss to Kerry. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Mon, 13 Jul, 2026 - 06:00

Kieran Shannon

Kieran Shannon is an award-winning sportswriter renowned for big interviews, insightful columns and an unrelenting focus on high‑performance sport.

It was good. At times very good. And yet as a neutral we left Croke Park on Sunday somewhat disappointed.

Kerry-Dublin is not just the most celebrated rivalry in Gaelic football. No other fixture in Irish sporting life through the decades has been more likely of delivering the best a sport or sport itself can offer than an All-Ireland semi-final between the counties, from the most celebrated of them all in 1977 to the most unheralded of them in 2007 all the way through to the classics of 2013 and 2016 and Seánie O’Shea’s iconic match-winning free in 2022.

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