O'Mahony: Renewed hunger has driven us on

Kerry defender Aidan O'Mahony is hoping the Kingdom can deliver their 37th All-Ireland SFC title on Sunday, and earn the Rathmore clubman a fifth Celtic Cross.

There is a lot of romanticism about the Kerry v Dublin pairing and a huge build-up ahead of the game, but O'Mahony also recognises that the past is the past and that it will have little bearing on Sunday's result.

"I suppose there is a lot of hype in the media about the game. We knew ourselves when Dublin got to the final that there was going to be massive hype around the country," he said.

"It's a great game to look forward to. I suppose with Dublin and Kerry looking back through the years they had some epic battles in the 1970s, but it's an All-Ireland final and it is another game and we are looking forward to it."

Sunday will see Kerry take part in their seventh All-Ireland final in eight years. The Kingdom lost out at the quarter-final stage of last year's Championship, being beaten by eventual finalists Down.

O'Mahony says that watching last year's All-Ireland final from the outside was frustrating. "It hurts when you are not in an All-Ireland final," he admitted.

"Every player in every team will tell you at the start of the year that you train to get into an All-Ireland final and we are no different.

"Last year was hurtful because it was a big difference for us as players to be sitting down on your couch watching All-Ireland final day. That gave us the renewed hunger this year to get back to an All-Ireland final."

Dublin have scored 4-70 to date in this year's Championship, and defender O'Mahony recognises that he and his colleagues will have a tough task this weekend against one of the best forward lines in the business.

"You look at that game (against Donegal) and you can talk about the forwards being quiet, but I think that they were probably more patient than anything else.

"They have fascinating forwards individually and collectively and they are a very strong team.

"You give them a bit of space and they will punish you. We will have to have our work done on them for the next day."

The 31-year-old says it is no surprise to Kerry that Dublin are in an All-Ireland final given the consistency they have shown, in particular, at provincial level in recent years.

"They have been awesome the last couple of years and they are there this year on merit," he added.

"They were in a National League final and they were unlucky I suppose. They got a couple of injuries in the second half of the game. They are there on merit this year, they were awesome against Tyrone and they were very patient against Donegal."

Focusing on his own side, O'Mahony firmly believes that Kerry have not shown all their aces just yet in 2011.

"I suppose you can only go on results, Limerick in the quarter-final and Mayo (in the semi-final) gave us two very tough games, especially Mayo.

"They hit very hard and they were a totally different Mayo side than the one we have faced in the last couple of years. It's all on the day, always one player steps up when you are looking for someone else.

"It's a bit of luck or it's a breaking ball and we know that will come. That's what we are looking forward to next day in the All-Ireland final."