When and where?
Dublin host reigning champions Kerry in the 2023 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, with throw-in at Croke Park on Sunday at 3.30pm. The two counties have 68 titles between them, with the Kingdom top of the pile on 38 (third best is Galway with nine). They’ve won nine of the last 10 titles between them (seven for Dublin), making this without doubt the meeting of the two top dogs of Gaelic football.
Where can I watch it?
RTÉ and BBC Northern Ireland will both have live coverage of the match while on irishtimes.com/sport, we’ll have a liveblog starting two hours before throw-in, covering all the build up and minute-by-minute action as it unfolds.
Paths to the final ...
In a season of upsets and outsiders, where for the first time in many years no team(s) looked head and shoulders above the rest, we still ended up with the most predictable final meeting possible.
[ Jim McGuinness: Higher-risk approach helps get Dublin and Kerry over the lineOpens in new window ]
Dublin were far from impressive in Division Two of the league, catching fire to score five goals in the final against a Derry side who had beaten them a few weeks earlier. Kildare could’ve beaten them in Leinster, sandwiched between two demolition jobs against Laois and Louth. Another Leinster title there, but a week later they did well to come away with a draw against Roscommon. They then stepped it up to beat Kildare and hammer Sligo. In the quarter-final they tore league champions Mayo apart in the second half, and finished strongly again in the semi-final despite being well matched up to then by Monaghan.
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Kerry were down numbers in the league and their performances reflected as much. In Munster they put up huge scores against Tipperary and Clare, before facing a different level of opposition when Mayo tore through them in Killarney. Questions remained as Cork pushed them hard, although the Rebels proved their quality as the summer progressed. Then a big win over Louth combined with Mayo slipping up, gave them a home quarter-final against Tyrone. A turning point. Their midfield answered its critics with a storming display in a 12 point win. Followed by a David Clifford masterclass to edge back-to-back Ulster champions Derry in the semi-final.
What happened the last time they met?
With Dublin down in Division Two of the league this season the last meeting of these two was in last year’s semi-final, when Seán O’Shea’s long range injury-time free held off Dublin’s comeback. That ended 13 years of torment at Dublin’s hands. Kerry led by five into the second half before the Dubs fought back in a thrilling semi-final which ended 1-14 to 1-13.
Midfield battle
Jack Barry will likely resume a familiar man marking job on Brian Fenton. A role he has provided his best days in a Kerry jersey carrying out, but Fenton has been in excellent form of late and surely will come with a few surprises for his marker. With Dublin savagely pressing on opposition kickouts this summer he has been able to contest more ball in the air and in short it’ll be harder to keep him out of the game in those circumstances. Fenton’s midfield partner James McCarthy, through hard running and doing the simple stuff extremely well, has also been a standout player for Dublin in recent games.
While Barry is joined in the middle by Diarmuid O’Connor to form a partnership which was heavily criticised until the All-Ireland quarter-final when they were dominant against Tyrone. David Moran’s presence is a huge loss but O’Connor has the legs and talent needed to face Dublin in the engine room. This battle could be decisive as both teams look to press the restarts.
Top scorers
Shane McGuigan of Derry (2-52) leads David Clifford (5-39) in the scoring charts, but five points in the final will see the latter move ahead of him. Seán O’Shea is third, but 14 points behind Clifford. Despite being taken off against Monaghan, Colm Basquel tops the scoring charts from play with 5-15, with two generational talents behind him. Con O’Callaghan has scored one point less, and Clifford is two off the Ballyboden forward.
On the whistle
Meath’s David Gough will referee the decider, taking charge of his second final, having officiated the last time the counties met in the final four years ago.
[ David Gough to take charge of All-Ireland football finalOpens in new window ]
Weather
Met Éireann are predicting a dry day for Sunday’s game, with conditions described as “partly cloudy”, temperatures rising to 18 degrees and a wind speed of up to 34km/h.
Team news
Stephen O’Brien comes into the Kerry team after making a decisive impact in their semi-final win, with Adrian Spillane this time tasked with that role. Dublin have included half forward Seán Bugler in their matchday squad released on Friday morning. He’s been a standout player for Dessie Farrell’s team but missed the semi-final win over Monaghan due to injury. The Leinster champions said his inclusion would come down to a late fitness test. Ciaran Kilkenny is again named on the bench with Paddy Small in the half forward line.
[ Seán Bugler doubful for Dublin ahead of All-Ireland final clash with KerryOpens in new window ]
DUBLIN [SFC v Kerry]: Stephen Cluxton; Eoin Murchan, Mick Fitzsimons, David Byrne; James McCarthy, John Small, Lee Gannon; Brian Fenton, Brian Howard; Paddy Small, Paul Mannion, Niall Scully; Cormac Costello, Con O’Callaghan, Colm Basquel. Subs: Evan Comerford, Seán Bugler, Ciarán Kilkenny, Tom Lahiff, Seán McMahon, Jack McCaffrey, Ross McGarry, Cian Murphy, Daire Newcombe, Lorcan O’Dell, Dean Rock.
KERRY: Shane Ryan; Graham O’Sullivan, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan; Paul Murphy, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White; Diarmuid O’Connor, Jack Barry; Dara Moynihan, Seán O’Shea, Stephen O’Brien; Paudie Clifford, David Clifford, Paul Geaney. Subs: Shane Murphy, Adrian Spillane, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Mike Breen, Barry Dan O’Sullivan, Ruairí Murphy, Micheál Burns, Killian Spillane, Dylan Casey, Donal O’Sullivan, Ronan Buckley.
