Kerry are now underdogs, but Dublin aren't gloating

There was a time when the mention of Dublin’s senior footballers in a Kerry pub didn’t compel patrons to drink deep (to paraphrase the Austin Clarke poem). That was when the idea of a Dublin manager extending his record against Kerry to seven wins from eight meetings would have been ridiculed.

With one kick, Stephen Cluxton, in 2011, ended a run of nine championship games in which Dublin failed to better Kerry. Between 2001 and ’09, Dublin faced Kerry 12 times across league and championship, losing 10 and drawing twice.

In his seven seasons with Dublin, Conal Keaney never enjoyed a win over Kerry. He didn’t play when Pat Gilroy’s side eventually broke their losing streak, in Killarney, in 2010. All he had for comfort were the 2006 and ’09 Division 1 draws. Did he ever imagine Dublin would be sallying into Tralee with a 33-game unbeaten run, and with Kerry the underdogs? For so long, Kerry were the kingpins and they would let him and other Dublin players know it.