GAELIC GAMES:Dublin have proved themselves a top four hurling county but the champions represent another step up in class, writes NICKY ENGLISH

AGAIN, LIKE Kilkenny last week, everyone expects Tipperary to coast into the All-Ireland final. It makes for an awkward lead-in to facing Dublin.

I went as far back in my memory as I could, and this has to be Dublin’s most successful year of hurling. In my lifetime.

Getting over Limerick, regardless of the performance, was a huge step as they broke out of the range they have been stuck in for the last few years. One they have not taken before. There must be a great sense of liberation amongst the players ever since.

It proved the league final performance was a better reflection than the Leinster final of where they are at. Anthony Daly’s management has moved on too.

They can deservedly be considered a top four hurling county now. This is where they belong. The consistency of their form all year is proof. Now they make the leap into the unknown.

Everything they have achieved, like winning the league and overcoming Limerick in Thurles, has been done against the backdrop of a serious injury crisis. Tomás Brady and Stephen Hiney were the rocks their defence was built upon. Yet they have thrived without them. Joey Boland is another who was taken from the heart of their resistance midway through the championship. At least he is fit again. Conal Keaney is an immeasurable loss and then in recent weeks Oisín Gough and David Treacy picked up injuries too.

I must admit it; Dublin without the five injured players is like Tipperary missing nine or ten fellas. It’s a huge ask.

That they have ploughed on just shows how good Dublin have become. They are a genuine hurling force. Tipperary and Kilkenny will have to get used to that.

They can already forget about tomorrow and chalk this down as a successful year.

Daly and Richie Stakelum have seen this all before. They have come into big games as massive underdogs. They will recognise the hunger of the players allied to the relief of making it this far and will transfer that into motivation. And hopefully a performance.

They will attempt to clamp down on Tipp’s attack in the early stages. Give them nothing. Certainly not goals. Make some of the best hurlers in Ireland earn their points then hope they are underestimated to such a degree that it becomes a genuine contest. Put them on the back foot.

Tipperary will not get another day like the Munster final when everything fell perfectly for them. They were absolutely brilliant but the game was over before they really had to think about it.

I’ve tried to figure how Dublin could win but I just can’t see it. Not with what they have been left with. Not against such a free-scoring team. Daly’s men have not been able to gather scores with the same nonchalance. I feel it will prove the difference.

The Ryan O’Dwyer goals against Limerick were a change from the norm for Dublin who have struggled to rattle the net. And by God they will need goals tomorrow to stay with the champions.

Traditionally, the Tipperary nation are easily carried away. Provincial success usually leads to an outpouring of overconfidence that can prove detrimental when the serious business of claiming Liam MacCarthy comes around. That’s the way it has been. Traditionally.

Declan Ryan and Tommy Dunne can only speak to the players twice a week. The rest of the time everyone is in their ear telling them how they will ease past Dublin. That they can save themselves for September when they have a chance to hammer the final nail into this great Kilkenny team’s coffin.

If the word ‘easy’ seeps into the collective consciousness they are in serious trouble. Nothing is easy in an All-Ireland semi-final. The focus will need to be just right to put Dublin away.

Because Dublin are physically very strong. They will close them down. Patience will be essential. They cannot expect it to be as open as it was against Waterford.

They are lucky in that there is fierce competition within the panel. I understand why Ryan has not changed the team. I know that Brendan Maher is one of the best hurlers around and I hear he is flying in training but the starting 15 are all in on merit. John O’Keeffe was outstanding on their last outing, only Lar Corbett and Eoin Kelly were better.

Maher is a huge option to bring in. I can see him playing a massive role and defintiely starting the All-Ireland final. It puts enormous and positive pressure on the eight players spread from half back to half forward.

Dublin need this game.

They need to come up against an excellent hurling team, in their prime, in Croke Park. They must bank the experience, regardless of the result, as it will prove hugely valuable when they return to this juncture over the coming years. Because they will be back.

This is the first of many All-Ireland semi-finals coming down the road for Dublin.

It is all part of the journey. All-Ireland finalists? Not this year anyway. But soon.

On last week’s evidence, Kilkenny will have to improve a lot to stay with Tipp. Presuming, of course, that it is a repeat of the old rivals for the third year running. But I just can’t see anything else transpiring.