All-Ireland Ladies SFC final: Gavin Cummiskey talks to Dublin manager Mick Bohan, who feels hisside are ready to challenge the dominance of champions Mayo

In reality this is Mick Bohan's first full crack at the Dublin Ladies' managerial position. He was there last year, but was also involved with Na Fianna and the Dublin minors. Now that they have his undivided attention, his charges appear to be reaping the dividends.

Bohan strongly believes that ladies' football in the capital is in a healthy state for the future, mainly due to the progress at underage levels in recent years.

"We called up five of the under-16s to the squad when they were beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final and they have been a huge addition to us. Had we had them a little bit longer, some of them would have even been playing on Sunday.

"We all know it's senior football we want to be winning. Our best coaches should go into underage football, our best managers should go into overage football. You should be doing your coaching at underage, not adult level."

He has clearly graduated from being one of the best coaches to management material.

On Sunday, Dublin face the might of Mayo. The Connacht champions have won three All-Irelands in four years and possess the sport's only current household name in Cora Staunton.

They are a side of young, natural footballers. Instinctive players that have been nurtured by Bohan's counterpart Finbarr Egan, players like captain Helena Lohan who, at the age of 20, has already picked up three All-Ireland medals.

But Dublin now finally appear to have the prize-fighting abilities to challenge the dominance of Mayo.

"Every player wants to remain at the top for as long as they can," says Bohan. "I was reading an article during the week about (Muhammad) Ali and Frank Bruno and why they kept fighting. They reckoned that they couldn't manage to sit back and not be the main focus. It's like Mayo: you're at the top, you want to be there as long as you can.

"It's not a matter of whether other teams be up there taking it off them; it's can other teams?

"Our objective this year was to win an All-Ireland final. If we weren't playing Mayo on Sunday we would be disappointed because we want to beat the best.

"We would have been disappointed had we to face Galway, and that's no disrespect to Galway. We want to beat the best team. That's what sport is all about isn't it? Pushing yourself to your limits and trying to see were you can end up."

All achievement comes at a price, and his players are willing to pay the sacrifice. Many played other sports. Angie McNally was an international basketball and soccer player, while team captain Martina Farrell also played basketball. But last year they walked away for the greater good.

"It was the players' decision not to play any other sports," says Farrell. "I play basketball. We all decided that for the better of the team you really can't be playing other sports if you want to win, and that's why we are where we are.

"If you have other sports to play then you are not 100 per cent focused on your Gaelic football. It definitely helped," she adds.

Now the ultimate goal is one game away, albeit against the toughest of opponents. But Bohan feels that, after losing to Mayo in last year's semi-final and also suffering defeat in three Leinster finals in recent years, they are ready.

"To win a Leinster title last year was fabulous in spite of the fact that we felt we could've gone on and done more. I suppose when it was all over we looked back and realised the players had reached their expectation levels.

"But the bar has been raised this year. Anything else other than getting to an All-Ireland final, and winning it, would be an underachievement. That's the reality."

Many teams have come to Croke Park for a final and failed to live up to their potential. Despite being the local team, this is Mayo territory. The Croke Park factor was discussed with sports psychologist Dr Neil O'Brien. Dublin football anoraks will remember O'Brien was involved when Dublin's men won the Sam Maguire in 1995.

"There are certain situations you can talk about. But talking about them isn't the same as just experiencing them. In fairness, we feel they are mentally very strong," says Bohan.

"They are a team that has gone through a lot of upsets, well before we got involved with them. It toughens you. We'll see on Sunday whether they are able to deal with it." Spoken like a true manager.