Kelleher downplays 'great' rivalry

GAA: IT'S NOT even All-Ireland week yet and already the nostalgia-fest surrounding the first Dublin-Kerry football final since 1985 is well under way.

However one man keen to keep things in context is Robbie Kelleher, corner back on the All-Ireland winning Dublin teams of the 1970s, who says the so-called great Dublin-Kerry rivalry is not actually that great, at least when their championship record is considered.

“We’ve a horrible record against Kerry,” says Kelleher. “People don’t realise just how bad the record is. Okay, we beat them in 1976, and 1977. But Dublin hadn’t actually beaten Kerry before that since 1934. And we’ve only played them eight times since 1977, and lost all eight. So it’s not the great rivalry people are talking about. Although hopefully we can put this one right.”

Kelleher won three All-Irelands with Dublin, in 1974, ’76 and ’77, and while Dublin lost the 1985 All-Ireland to Kerry, 2-12 to 2-8, he feels they have every chance of beating them – and winning back the title for the first time since 1995. “I think they have a great chance. But I think they have got to avoid what happened two years ago, when the game was over after five minutes. If they can hold Kerry for the first 20 or 25 minutes, they have a great chance.

“What happened against Tyrone in the quarter-final was something I didn’t think was in them. I didn’t think they were as good as that. Early in the year, people were saying they only really have Bernard Brogan and Alan Brogan and if you keep them quiet, there is no other fire-power there. But some of them have stepped up greatly. If Diarmuid Connolly does a third of what he did against Tyrone, and Paul Flynn too, they have serious options in the forwards. And five of the Kerry backs are over 30. So I think they have a serious chance.”

It’s no surprise that one man playing up Kerry’s chances is former midfield star Jack O’Shea, who won his first of seven All-Irelands in 1978, when Kerry beat Dublin in the final (and Kelleher was still corner back). O’Shea believes Kerry’s midfield has yet to deliver on their true potential, and while he fully expects Paul Galvin to start, is not so sure he’d keep Kieran Donaghy in the starting 15.

“Talking to Kerry players during the week they’ve said this is the one they want,” says O’Shea. “These players have been listening for years about the rivalry between Dublin and Kerry and they never actually played in that . . . I’ve no doubt you’ll see the best Kerry team playing in the All-Ireland. I think they’re going quite well.

“At midfield Anthony Maher is a player I have a lot of time for, and Bryan Sheehan has adapted well too. I would start Paul Galvin. He showed when he came in against Mayo he has the ability, and talent-wise he should be on the team. Unfortunately the player who might lose out is Donnacha Walsh again. He was left out of two teams in the All-Ireland final.”

While O’Shea doesn’t quite expect Kerry to blow Dublin off the field like they did in the quarter-final two years ago, he does expect their experience to win out: “If Kerry start well they’re very, very hard to stop. Kerry are always capable of that, and this Kerry team are. Sometimes when they do start so well they kind of lapse in games, too, and that’s the worry, that if they do blitz early on that they wouldn’t be able to maintain it for 70 minutes.

“But in the semi-final they put in a fairly good 70-minute performance and I feel we will see the best of them. In fairness to Dublin, they’ve done fantastic to get to the final but you have to win it. The pressure will be on Dublin more than Kerry to actually perform in the final.”