It ends in tears and with broken hearts. Kerry and Dublin's tangled relationship has always meant more to those of a blue persuasion than it does to those from football's heartland. On Saturday, Dublin went to their private grief. Kerry moved on. Just friends but free to see other teams.

Like several other counties, Dubliners flatter themselves to think they provide Kerry with a meaningful rivalry. So late in the afternoon it was no surprise to find the Kerry dressing-room sombre and businesslike in the aftermath. Kerry said all the right things about Dublin, but deep down in pure footballing terms you could tell they didn't rate the team they had just beaten. This was just business.

Mike Frank Russell is every inch cut from Kerry cloth. He almost shuts his eyes when he speaks about this particular day at the office.

"It was very tough," he said. "We knew they had nothing to lose, maybe when they look back they should have beaten Meath, but we won out in the end. The fresh legs helped. It's a 20-man game now. They are one of the fittest teams in the country so we were worried when Tomβs (╙ SΘ) was gone but thankfully, we came through."

Young Declan Quill, 19 years old and passing over the threshold of the team where surely he will stay for a decade at least, had a thought for a friend at the far end of the corridor. Saturday wasn't a day for The Great Vincenzo to amaze and amuse but he wasn't forgotten.

"Vinny Murphy is a good friend. Unfortunately it didn't work out for Vinny, but we're there. Dublin were picking it up when I came on and the lads kept the shoulder to the wheel. Mike Frank and John (Crowley) kicked outstanding scores.

"I'm thinking of Vinny. He did a great job for Kerins O'Rahilly's when he was there and he did a great job for Dublin this year. I'm glad it worked out for him personally. He was a good mentor to me. I'm glad for him and I'm glad we're back in Croke Park."

If there has been a bug in the ointment for Kerry people this year, it has been the cautious use of Quill. The rest of the country might argue that it is unfair that Kerry have him at all, given the forward talent available, but Quill himself knows his lines and knows his boss.

"I won a ball by the sideline and Pβid∅ (╙ SΘ) came in and he patted me on the back and it drives you on a bit in the team when you see a manager getting involved - him with eight All-Ireland medals and he's coming on to the field and he's giving me a pat in the back."

Quill's legend is nascent. Seamus Moynihan's on the other hand only needs the odd polishing. Saturday provided that. He stands near the dressing-room door, digesting the reputations of a couple of Dublin forwards like a python who's just swallowed a couple of rabbits.

"Their goal came fairly early and we had plenty of time to recover from it. It brought them back but the last day their goals came at vital times. Today we could regroup and get back and we got a couple of great scores.

"In fairness to Johnny (Crowley), he's playing very well at the moment, every time we went up we looked dangerous. Nine out of 10 times we went up we got a score. They threw everything at us, it looked like they might get a breakthrough but we held out."

And to Pβid∅. At the end of the game he was to be found moving quickly towards the referee Pat McEnaney to praise him "on aspects of his performance".

"He's a great ref, providing he comes in with an open mind. I saw the sending-off. I wanted to comment on it. I believe Tomβs ╙ SΘ was a marked man coming into today's game over the wrong publicity he got after the Munster final.

"I felt the referee should have come into today's game with an open mind. I believe he didn't. I have no more to say. I didn't think the tackle merited it. Tomβs was struck of the ball in the first half and we didn't make a big issue out of it."

Overall, though, the match was calming. Kerry did their homework and executed it on the day. Managers like that.

" Not as nerve-racking as last week, still just a little bit perhaps. We played the full hour today. We were in a better frame of mind coming in today, we had studied them and taken it from there. Our application at half time in the dressing-room was very good. I couldn't single out any player from it all."

And the rest of the summer Pβid∅?

"Ah, we'll wait and see."

In the dark, arterial tunnel that joins the dressing-room, there is a respectful crowd outside the Dublin quarters. They hush briefly when Tom Carr emerges to pay a visit to the Kerry men. There are whispers of "well done" and "fair play."

Carr is gracious but distant. It could be the last time he does these duties.

"It was very disappointing in terms of the time, the effort and the sacrifice and everything that was put into it over the last few years and this summer and over the hour today. I'm still exceptionally proud. I watched from about a third of the way up the stand near the halfway line. It was tough, a real hands-off job, but that is nothing to do with why we lost. We just found it difficult to find the scores."

Unlike Kerry?

"Their goals were the difference. They've been a problem for us right through. Goals at the right or the wrong time, again we were chasing a game today and it's hard to do that twice in a week."

And the future? Carr has a year to run on his deal. "We'll have to see."