Seán Moran points out precedent suggests Dublin would do well to put in a decent performance against Kerry on Sunday

Even with the faster pace of the modern game and the growing frequency of potential meetings, Dublin and Kerry still has a resonance. Tomorrow's clash at Fitzgerald Stadium reflects the standing of the counties with the home side well positioned to qualify for the semi-finals and Dublin needing an improbable combination of results including at least a five-point win.

It's all of eight years since Dublin last beat Kerry, in the 1998 league (and 24 seasons since they last did so in Kerry). In the meantime there have been seven matches, only one of which Kerry didn't win - the drawn 2001 All-Ireland quarter-final in Thurles.

Strangely, only just over half, four, of those matches have been in the league. This is partly because Kerry appeared to grow slightly blasé about Division One status on a couple of occasions since re-emerging on the All-Ireland scene in 1997. Whereas these NFL fixtures have been largely featureless they have reflected something of where the teams were going in terms of championship.

Last year Dublin were facing a drubbing when trailing by seven points at half-time in Tralee but managed a stirring comeback to fall short by just two points, confirmation that under Paul Caffrey the team were proving harder to put down, an impression confirmed when they won Leinster the following summer.

The match also saw the senior competitive debut of Mark Vaughan, whose introduction brought some flash and two points to the attack, as well as a confrontation with Séamus Moynihan, who tomorrow starts his first competitive intercounty match since last year's All-Ireland final.

The previous two years were in keeping with disappointing championships to come. Two years ago Dublin lost a six-point lead at half-time and a year previously in Killarney, having shipped an unanswered sequence of 1-4 before the break, were comfortably kept at arm's length by the home side. The 2004 defeat prefigured an All-Ireland quarter-final loss later in the year.

The first match of the decade was unusual, a twice postponed affair in the last season before the calendar year was introduced. It finally took place on April Fool's Day and ended in a five-point defeat for Dublin. One straw in the wind proved to be the occasional trouble Moynihan suffered at full back marking Vinny Murphy.

Four months later in Thurles it was Murphy's introduction as a replacement that sparked the Dublin comeback that earned a draw - nearly a win but for Maurice Fitzgerald's famous lineball conversion - before the then All-Ireland champions ran out winners in the replay.

So even with a depleted team tomorrow and safe from relegation, precedent suggests Dublin would do well to put in a decent performance.