Dublin get their neck in front in the nick of time

Dublin 0-22 Kerry 2-14

Excuse us, please, while we gather our breath back, because Dublin and Kerry have just delivered another hands down football epic which neither words nor reason can do immediate justice.

Only after the crippling tension lifted and nerve-endings were revived could we be sure that Dublin were the team left standing, Kerry the team out on their feet. It was a game that absolutely could have gone either way – and that was in the five minutes of added time alone.

Once upon a time, Dublin beating Kerry in this sort of fashion would have been against the grain of hope and tradition, only not anymore – as they once again dug into their vast reserves of strength and self-belief to claw back a five-point deficit at half-time, and with that keep on track their quest for the their first back-to-back All-Ireland titles since the 1970s.

It couldn’t have come more hard-earned, however, as Kerry made them fight and fret and fight again for it every step of the way – or at least every step of a second half which seemed to stretch out and last forever.

That's because Kerry's crazy goal rush just before half-time turned the game upside down and inside out – both scored into the Hill 16 end, as if to add insult to injury, both at least partly the fault of Dublin's chief of defensive police, goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton.

Everything up to that point had screamed of a Dublin victory, with apparent ease too, as Kerry struggled to come to terms with their own game plan as much as Dublin’s.

Instead, the full house at Croke Park was treated to a second half of the purest football tension – Dublin slowly chipping away at Kerry’s advantage, as Kerry all the while appeared to have just enough to keep their noses in front.

Only as the game spilled into those five minutes of added time did the margin appear mildly decisive: Dean Rock, who scored a remarkable 0-12 on the day, had first drawn Dublin level, before as if on cue Kevin McMananon – the man who had broken Kerry hearts before – fired them in front for the first time in that second half.

Still, and justifiably so, Kerry weren’t beaten yet as Stephen O’Brien squared it up again, punching the ball over the bar with a statement as much as a score.

Now it was all and everything to play for, and both teams knew it. First, James McCarthy set up Eoghan O’Gara, and even if it seemed there was some latitude with the steps, there was no denying O’Gara’s powerful score.

Not long after that it was Diarmuid Connolly who scored the safety point, McManamon crashing into Peter Crowley while setting up that point, although again there was no arguing with the finish. Kerry had nothing left to give, nor did the time.

That it extends their now four-game championships losing streak to Dublin, which for Kerry was already bordering on the unacceptable, will be only part of the afterthought. Dublin go on to face Mayo in next month’s All-Ireland hotly fancied and duly tested to win a first back-to-back All-Ireland since Kerry, in 2006-2007.

That Kerry were the team surrendering their advantage at the death was in strange conflict with the start, because six minutes in and already Kerry’s defence looking in danger of snapping , and with ease, as if Dublin were putting a scissors to a piece of string.

Philly McMahon tested the length of goalkeeper Brian Kelly’s left arm, and luckily for Kerry it was just about long enough, preventing an otherwise certain goal from a move that had started with a Cluxton kick-out, then moved up the field with stunning precision.

Rock converted the resulting 45 and not long after added his first from play, then a free – and with that Dublin were suddenly coasting, four points clear of Kerry’s zero and Croke Park already tangled up in blue.

At last, Kerry found some breathing space, David Moran breaking free down along the Cusack Stand to score their opening point, after 14 minutes of play. The Kerry support greeted it with relief more than celebration. Dublin supporters, meanwhile, greeted any possession by Kieran Donaghy with an audible jeer.

Kerry were being murdered on their own kick-outs, losing two fatal ones in succession, towards the end of the first half, the most telling of which was won by Ciarán Kilkenny and passed straight off to Brogan, who promptly and cleanly sliced the posts.

Any Kerry possession of real value was promptly directed into the full forward line, and although Paul Geaney was getting his hands on some, his only return was a trio of points. Half an hour in, Kerry needed goals, and they knew it.

Suddenly they had not one but two: without warning, it seemed, yet clearly by design, Kerry pushed up on the Dublin kick-outs and punished them. Cluxton kicked right and straight into the hands of Geaney, who picked out Donnchadh Walsh, and from there into the thunderbolt path of Darran O'Sullivan – his shot, and himself, then crashing into the Dublin goal with unstoppable force.

So, that levelled it – Kerry's 1-6 to Dublin's 0-9; with five minutes left in the half, Kerry were only getting going. Cooper then added a beauty from just right of Hill 16, Dublin's defence still in a state of mild shock. Then, Anthony Maher soloed the ball around the 45-metre line with apparent ease, as if Dublin forget how to tackle; from there he lobbed the ball into the Dublin goalmouth, Geaney darting in and then up to beat Cluxton to the ball and delivering just enough force to spill it into the net, before Cluxton could spill it out.

Cooper, now as buoyant as ever, chipped over another free before the end of the half – which had Kerry lording it at 2-8 to Dublin’s 0-9, a five-point advantage which given where it had come from appeared invaluable.

If any team knew how to chip away at that it was Dublin, Rock a picture of calm over the placed ball, while Brian Fenton and McMahon all contributed to what must as one of Dublin's finest comebacks in the Jim Gavin era – extending his winning streak to 27 games, stretching back to March of 2015.

Where exactly this one ranks only time will tell, but for now it feels right up there with the very best of them.

DUBLIN: Stephen Cluxton; Philly McMahon (0-1), Jonny Cooper, David Byrne; James McCarthy, Cian O'Sullivan, John Small; Michael Darragh Macauley, Brian Fenton (0-1); Paul Flynn, Kevin McManamon (0-2), Ciaran Kilkenny; Dean Rock (0-12, eight frees, two 45s), Diarmuid Connolly (0-3), Bernard Brogan (0-2).

Subs: Paddy Andrews for Flynn (46 mins); Paul Mannion for Small (51 mins); Eoghan O'Gara (0-1) for Macauley (60 mins); Michael Fitzsimons for Cooper (68 mins); Cormac Costello for Brogan (71 mins).

KERRY: Brian Kelly; Shane Enright, Mark Griffin, Killian Young; Aidan O'Mahony, Peter Crowley, Tadhg Morley; Anthony Maher, David Moran (0-1); Paul Murphy (0-1), Colm Cooper (0-5, four frees), Donnchadh Walsh; Paul Geaney (1-4), Kieran Donaghy, Darran O'Sullivan (1-0).

Subs: Stephen O'Brien (0-1) for O'Sullivan (40 mins); James O'Donoghue (0-1) for Donaghy (51 mins); Barry John Keane (0-1) for Walsh (52 mins); Brian Ó Beaghlaoich for Morley (57 mins); Bryan Sheehan for Maher (59 mins); Marc Ó Sé for Geaney (68 mins).

Referee: David Gough (Meath)