Does anyone know what Joe Brolly made of it all?

It wouldn’t be an All-Ireland replay without whispers and rumours and lads coming in and lads being dropped. This time around we are spoiled for choice.

Joanne Cantwell informs us that Eoin Murchan starts for Dublin. This is good news for the guy doing the TV column, or at least it would be if he could think of a silly and suitable pun.

Is Murchan from Venice? Scarcely. Might his father be from Ennis? Possibly.

Anyway, you get the drift. Hopefully, inspiration will strike – dropping as the gentle rain from heaven, perchance – before the end of the page.

Over on Sky, Damian Lawlor is pitchside with Dick Clerkin discussing the presence of Bernard Brogan in the Dublin subs.

Clearly a man for arresting imagery, Damian wonders if Brogan’s return could be “the grain of rice that will tip the scales”. Janey. Gastronomic trends in Kilruane have come a long way. The San Sebastian of north Tipp.

Back to RTÉ. Something’s missing and I can’t quite put my finger on it. No – someone’s missing, rather.

Eventually, the penny drops. No Joe Brolly.

He isn’t here? He’s been jocked off? Why wasn’t I told? Was anybody else aware of this?

Right, listen up. Very few people were indifferent to Joe Brolly, which is a strength in a pundit. No station wants its pundits being ignored.

Brolly’s problem was that he ended up trying too hard to play to the gallery. That’s a fault too.

We don’t want our pundits to be beige but we don’t want them pulsing in permanent Day-Glo colours either.

We don’t mind if they have an on-screen persona - indeed they’re obliged to have one in order to make an impression on the public – but they can’t allow that persona to tip over.

We want them to be measured and nuanced most of the time, and every once in a while to lob in a grenade, but we don’t want permanent bomb-throwers. If everything is calculated to be controversial, then very little can be controversial.

Pressing the nuclear button should be an act of last resort. Constant outrage palls in the long run.

Incidentally, as this is my page today, here’s my own tuppenceworth. I’ve long been of the view that all but the most exceptional pundits – Kevin McStay and Anthony Daly – should have a three-year shelf life.

After that they’ve said practically everything they have to say.

And then there was one. One called Pat, who can’t quite bring himself to go for Kerry and opines that Dublin “have more improvement in them”.

Ciarán Whelan has regained his faith in the champions – the last ten minutes a fortnight ago did that for him, he reveals – and Stephen Rochford, Joe’s replacement, opts for the Dubs by two.

On Sky Sports there’s a dissenting voice. Dick Clerkin has had a good feeling about Kerry as the week has worn on and reckons they’ll be bursting with confidence.

Over to Ger Canning and Kevin McStay. Voices of reassurance in a world turned upside down.

No sooner have Kerry won their first scoreable free than Kevin eulogises Sean O’Shea’s deadball kicking with a phrase that will surely enter the lexicon. “He put on a clinic in the drawn game.”

Proceedings are beautifully balanced at the interval. The ball has scarcely been thrown in for the second half when our NBF Eoin Murchan bursts up the field, keeps galloping and steers it to the net. The Murchan of Na Fianna has obtained his pound of flesh. (Ha! Got there in the end!)

Soon Dublin are four points up. “That’s a margin now,” Kevin remarks. As usual, he’s understated. As usual, he’s right.

Approaching the 50th minute the men in two-tone blue do what they frequently do in the closing stages of games, keeping possession for a sustained period and putting the match to sleep. In a future life they’ll all come back as anaesthetists in Beaumont Hospital. The Kerry supporters boo, then shut up when the phase of play ends with a point for Paul Mannion.

It is an inkling that Dublin feel they have this one in hand and it echoes an observation made by Stephen beforehand. “They just know the pace at which they want to play the game.”

Six points separate the sides at the final whistle. In view of their winning margins in All Ireland finals this decade (one point, one point, three points, draw, one point, one point, six points), and given the quality of the Kerry forwards, it is an immense margin.

As with the wedding feast at Cabra, the best wine has been kept till last.

Ger: “Dublin are the history makers. Truly Gaelic football’s invincibles!”

Ciarán Kilkenny: “The best feeling I’ve ever felt in my whole life. I’m so emotional. Woooo! We did it!

Pat, graciously: “The better team by a mile on the day.”

Does anyone know what Joe Brolly made of it all?