Championship 2007/Jack O'Connor's Column:There is little to choose between the two giants of football but Kerry might edge it

Why does Sunday's Kerry-versus-Dublin game capture the imagination of the public the way no other fixture can? History really. Any time Dublin and Kerry play it's a throwback to the good old days of the 1970s when the rivalry between the teams raised the profile of Gaelic football to another level.

There's a symmetry in the fact that yesterday was the 30th anniversary of what is commonly regarded as the greatest game of all time. That audacious claim may owe as much to Micheál O'Hehir's commentary as to the action itself on the day when Dublin snatched victory with a couple of late goals.

I watched the game on television and remember clearly O'Hehir's "drilling for oil" phrase about Bernard Brogan. I recall that glimpse of Brogan cutting through the Kerry defence. He was a fantastic athlete, a quality he has passed on to his two sons.

In 1977 when Bernard Brogan scored the game and the power struggle between the sides were on a knife edge. This week on Radio Kerry, Weeshie Fogarty had Ger O'Keeffe, Mikey Sheehy and some of the other Kerry lads in to discuss that game.

Ger O'Keeffe scored a point that day from corner back - which, by the way, disproves those who say Ger could never kick a ball. Weeshie had got somebody to do stats on the game.

Times have changed. The stats showed there was a huge amount of kicking by the backs at that time. Backs got the ball and kicked it as long as they could.

Nowadays backs don't kick from inside their own 45; it is all about retaining possession.

Amazingly, Páidí Ó Sé played in midfield that day and was the Kerry player who handled the ball most. And just as surprisingly, Pat Spillane, who according to legend never passed a ball in his life, had five assists that day while being held scoreless himself.

The game itself is still fondly spoken about, even here in Kerry. For the Dubs to beat us in 1977 was a tough one to take, but while it was the high-water mark for that Dublin side, it was the making of Kerry football.

The result could have changed the course of Kerry football. It was the second year in a row Kerry lost in championship football to Dublin and there were some rumblings against Mick O'Dwyer that winter. Micko hung in there and Kerry won another seven All-Irelands with him. It's strange to imagine how different things might have been if the snipers had succeeded.

Kerry came back with a vengeance in 1978 and unleashed the Bomber, who turned out to be the final piece of the jigsaw in that great team. That was the first All-Ireland final I saw in the flesh. I'd held on till the right day.

There's some interesting symmetries about Sunday. As we say in Kerry, you can't bate breeding.

Páidí, of course, has three nephews playing. Bernard Brogan has two sons playing in the Dublin forward line but the fact their mother is from Listowel gives us certain bragging rights in the breeding stakes there.

In those days and ever since it was often said Kerry people don't travel to All-Ireland semi-finals. Kerry people will travel to this one. It has caught the imagination.

The county-board people have been on the radio lowering peoples' expectations as to whether they will all get tickets. That's a sign they know there is a barrage coming.

Kerry people know that, leaving history aside, it is a fascinating game. There is much that we cannot predict.

Will Dublin still be haunted by their failure to reach last year's final?

From Kerry's point of view the challenge is different. The players have been on the road for quite a while. A big game against Dublin should be exactly what is needed to get the pulse racing again. Or do they have the appetite left?

To beat the Dubs in the intimidating atmosphere of Croke Park would be the ultimate for a Kerry team with little left to prove. It would be a remarkable achievement for this group of players if they were to reach their fourth final in a row in this competitive era.

In many ways the pressure is all on Dublin to deliver in front of their blue army. There has to be a doubt as to whether they can close out games in the way they should.

Dublin's connection to The Hill is a double-edged sword. When Dublin score goals they feed off the excitement on The Hill. At other times The Hill's nervousness and anxiety transmit themselves to the players below.

The key for Kerry is to be in a tight game in the last 10 minutes so that those old doubts begin to resurface in Dublin minds. Have Dublin repaired the psychological scars left by last year's semi-final defeat?

Ancient history will count for nothing. The context is all modern. Kerry have been there over the last few years. They have huge experience and are in their eighth All-Ireland semi-final in a row, having played in the last three finals. That experience cannot be bought and is what won the quarter-final for them when they struggled.

They've been through these things before and even from the quarter-final they will have drawn huge resilience. Two points down with 62 minutes gone on the clock and they finished up winning by a point. Winning games like that is huge; it means you never panic; you keep doing the right thing.

Much of the analysis revolves around personnel rather than personalities. The last day the three Ó Sé brothers virtually pulled the game out of the fire on their own.

Kerry have others capable of doing that too. The big question about Dublin is do they have enough of that type of player. They certainly have fine individual footballers and Ciarán Whelan or Bryan Cullen on their day can be great players.

Whelan is having a good year and is vital in that Dublin play when he plays. He caught two kickouts in a row in the Derry game and two points came off them. Goals and Whelan's catches are the two main things Dublin feed off.

Cullen has threatened to provide the same sort of uplift for a couple of years. He has fine qualities and has looked as if he could be that leader. Dublin need massive performances from those two. Their forwards, with the exception of Jayo, wouldn't be experienced enough to provide leaders at this stage.

Darragh Ó Sé will feel he was slightly below par over the 70 minutes in the Monaghan game and will be edging to have a big performance. When Darragh plays, Kerry play. This Sunday is the kind of challenge Darragh loves.

Whelan needs a sweep into the ball to launch himself for catches. Midfield will probably be crowded on Sunday as both sides attempt to stop Whelan and Darragh Ó Sé catching clean ball.

Kerry need to stop Whelan and deny him the runway for those big catches. When Whelan is catching ball he makes Dublin play. That's his trademark: the big run, a skyscraping catch and a point from the right-hand side. It lifts Dublin hugely.

A lot comes down to a few things. The six-week break was a factor in Kerry's performance against Monaghan. Kerry had a tough battle and got out the other side of it with a one-point win.

Dublin are more consistent this year but if Kerry stay with them with 10 minutes to go they should have the experience to close out the game.

Dublin will start out at 100 miles an hour. Kerry have to absorb that start.

Kerry players usually raise their game when a big test is put in front of them. The house three-quarters full of Dubs will be a challenge rather than an obstacle.

Positives for Dublin are that Kerry looked a little dead on their feet against Monaghan. Will they be right for Sunday? If Kerry are a little off colour Dublin could steamroll them with backs driving out of defence on overlaps. There are those two things that get the Dubs going too: Whelan and goals. If the voltage gets high enough they could cut loose.

Predicting an outcome before the teams have even been picked may be a mug's game. But Kerry by two.