Dublin simply have too much talent to underperform again
Saturday is a very unique occasion under lights October with 82,500 people creating a cauldron of noise. Hand on heart, I am jealous. The players of both Dublin and Mayo have the opportunity to shine under the glare of a nation. I watched the hurling replay of 2013 between Clare and Cork in a pub in Aberdeen, the atmosphere was electric and the setting of Croke Park under lights was spectacular.
An important note to add, though, is both teams delivered that day in superb fashion; that game complimented the occasion and the setting. Football is in strange place right now. Those who attended the drawn game last Sunday week enjoyed the atmosphere and certainly that made it a far more appetising prospect. Those who watched from afar were in the main disappointed. I have loved and hated the football I have viewed this year all at the same time. The handling and turnovers in the first game were shocking and it completely lacked the quality we would expect at All-Ireland final stage, in that respect it was not much different to 2015, when Kerry and Dublin played out another stinker in the decider.
