Dublin Football: Gavin Cummiskey assesses Dublin's prospects for the season ahead as the county focuses on ending the long wait for All-Ireland glory

We pick up the Dublin trail where it last went cold: underneath the Hogan Stand on August 26th. Pillar Caffrey is speaking to journalists one last time in 2007. Some managers take months to come clean but not Caffrey. "Kerry were better at the end," he concedes.

In defeat, and considering his three-year term was concluded, the Dublin football manager was always going to be asked about his future. The response was typical considering his inbuilt disdain for people poking microphones and recorders in his face. What next? "I'm going back to DCU for a shower now."

And he abruptly departed. Before that he did at least state how proud he was of his team for running an excellent Kerry side to two points.

"Disappointment wouldn't come near how we are feeling in the dressingroom right now. It's heartbroken and it's going to take a while to get over this defeat.

"They have been great ambassadors for Dublin football this year and they put everything into it and I thought they left everything out on the pitch there today. It's up to the journalists now to analyse and break it down whatever way they want."

And so, in early January, the GAA journalist is tasked with nit-picking through the current Dublin collective who are, surely, embarking on one last venture to reclaim the All-Ireland title for the first time since 1995.

Another notable aspect in the aftermath of the Kerry defeat was the players' immediate support for the management. Alan Brogan paused before also boarding the coach back to DCU: "He is a fantastic manager. I don't think his job is finished until he delivers that All-Ireland and hopefully he will. I'm sure the county board will extend his contract. I, for one, and I'm sure all the players, want him to stick around."

Nobody has broken ranks or jumped ship since and the county board stood behind Caffrey, Dave Billings, Brian Talty and Paul Clarke (Ski Wade although not a selector is an integral part of the coaching set-up) along with the phalanx of support staff.

Ciarán Whelan will be back for a 13th season come the National League. Jason Sherlock already began his 14th campaign in blue last weekend. The core of the rest came on board around 2002. Many of them are reaching their prime. Sherlock and Whelan are still good enough - Whelan arguably had his best year in 2007 since the swashbuckling breakthrough in 1996. The All Star committee agreed by giving him a second award to add to the 1999 accolade.

Talk since the All-Ireland semi-final has been about Dublin's absent two or three per cent. That's how far short they are of reaching the mountain top. Can the next generation combined with the current bunch make up those few desperate inches?

Paul Bealin knows the difference between a contender and the owner of a Celtic Cross. It was a similar scenario in 1995 when he manned midfield with Brian Stynes. Dublin had been knocking on the door since Donegal shocked them in the 1992 decider. Now, like then, the Ulster revival has faded. Now, like then, Meath are maybe a year off full power.

"By 95 we had been in two All-Ireland finals and four Leinster finals," he recalls. "Certainly the breath of fresh air for us was Jason Sherlock and Keith Galvin coming onto the scene. That was almost a 10 per cent improvement as it created competition for places so when Vinny Murphy and the like were brought in, they had already been blooded into a championship environment.

"I remember wondering if we have the stuff to do this but all the players said 'look, we'll give it one last unmerciful push.' And we did. The training that year was phenomenal. Any player will tell you it was the hardest training they've ever done but it was required to drag ourselves over the line."

A dominant, three-in-a-row-chasing Kerry is the significant difference this time. The All-Ireland will have to be prised from the vice-like grip of a Paul Galvin-led Green and Gold, who no longer pursue any visible rivals but rather a place alongside the legendary men who brought Sam Maguire to the Kingdom on eight occasions in the 1970s and 1980s.

"I think Dublin are very, very close," continues Bealin, now manager of Carlow. "This year is make or break but that's hardly a secret. If you look at the players who have been there for quite some time, if they move on there will be a vacuum there.

"If Dublin are to improve they are going to have to blood at least two or three new players during the league. One around the middle and one penetrating forward.

"Kerry won the semi-final because they were able to bring players in; Bryan Sheehan in particular kicked a few points. You are only as good as your bench when a game is tight."

Sherlock could provide such impetus off the Dublin bench, an option and use thereof that has been a consistent problem these past few years, especially in big games.

Immediate candidates for consideration come from newly crowned Leinster club champions St Vincent's. Everyone knows about the captain Tomás Quinn but the breakthrough of Dermot Connolly in attack and Ger Brennan in defence could improve Dublin's grade from a B-plus to A-minus.

O'Tooles' Eamon Fennell, at 6ft 4in and 15st, is being touted as a decent midfield prospect. Along with Philip McMahon at wing back and Declan O'Mahony at full forward, Fennell is the notable experiment this evening against Mick O'Dwyer's Wicklow in the first round of the O'Byrne Cup.

Ross McConnell held his own at full back last summer so more is expected this time around. Bernard Brogan is also back in the mix for a second season. You know the rest of them. Cullen. Vaughan. Brogan snr. Keaney. All men the Hill have learned to trust on big days. More of the same is required.

"If the Paul Caseys, Ciarán Whelans and Jason Sherlocks - who have been knocking around for a while - still have the appetite there is no reason why they cannot give it one more big push," adds Bealin. "I also believe Mark Vaughan needs to improve his overall performance. He needs to concentrate on scores from play but he is certainly capable."

By recently guiding St Vincent's back into the light, Mickey Whelan buried the harsh memories of trying to keep a spent Dublin panel afloat in 1996. He'll be keeping Quinn, Brennan and Connolly out Marino way at least until the All-Ireland club semi-final, probably, against Crossmaglen Rangers on February 24th.

"I think Ger will figure for Dublin at some stage in the championship and while Dermot's potential is immense he must continue to live up to it," says Whelan. And what does the former Dublin manager think of the county's prospects?

"Dublin have been unfortunate in recent years. There is no reason why they couldn't have beaten Kerry. Six points down and they bring it back to a score before Kerry got the break. We know how punishing any little mistake can be at that level. That is not the only example of luck going against Dublin in recent years.

"The two or three per cent missing from their game had been the ability to convert scores but that was addressed last year. Now they have to tighten up the defence and ensure the midfield doesn't drift out of contention at vital periods in the big games."

Don't expect a wealth of information from within the camp; the Dubs don't do revelations in print. An RTÉ documentary two years back was the only time the group provided any insight into what makes them tick. Not that anybody will care about media relations if they get across September's finishing line.

"We all wanted another go at it," says selector Brian Talty, a man like Caffrey and Billings who has been with the panel since Tommy Lyons took over in 2002.

"No one ever suggested pulling out. Thankfully the county board provided us with the opportunity."

Is this last-chance saloon?

"Ah no, every year is a final push in Dublin. We'll just take what we have now. Sure, we are looking at what went wrong in the past and are taking responsibility to ensure it's corrected."

Work has already begun on addressing last season's flaws but they won't be sharing that either.

"Paul has been away so we'll sit down this month and have a look at it. We have a panel for the O'Byrne Cup which allows us to take a look at a couple of young players. After that we'll select another panel for the league and take it from there.

"If you had said last year that Ross McConnell would be the championship full back or Bernard Brogan would be there at wing forward who would have believed you? It was in the O'Byrne Cup that Ross first moved to full back, so who's to say another player cannot be unearthed?"

It all gets underway at 5pm in Parnell Park. Nothing new will be learned until the hammer comes down in late August or early September. Only then comes the chance to banish the heartbroken feeling Tyrone, Mayo and Kerry have visited upon them these past three campaigns.

Expect a few more column inches along the way too.