Ah, it’s only the National League. It’s only April. There is no All-Ireland title handed out in the Spring.
Bullshit.
This Sunday, what happens in Croke Park will mean something to players and fans, no matter how much either side tells themselves it won’t.
Kerry need this win more than Dublin. They crave it. This goes deeper than last September and that no-show from the Kingdom in the All-Ireland final.
Kerry fans could accept losing to Tyrone in 2005 and 2008, and maybe even Armagh in 2002.
Begrudgingly they might admit, at a weak moment, that their opponents were better teams in full-on battles.
But last year’s loss was a complete non-appearance from both players and management. It was almost an anti-Kerry like performance on the third Sunday in September. And worse again, against their biggest rivals.
Kerry fans demand a response, and Sunday is payback time.
Kerry’s opening two games of the league looked set to continue their terrible run of spring performances under Eamonn Fitzmaurice.
Soundly beaten by the Dubs in Croker, Roscommon humiliated Kerry in their own patch in Killarney.
It was as low as they could go, and it looked like another season of battling relegation loomed.
But Bryan Sheehan returned, Kerry won in Down and over one 70 minutes in Tralee, the seeds of their recovery were sown.
The ‘Melee in Tralee’ stirred something in Kerry football that has been lacking since the All-Ireland semi-final replay win over Mayo in 2014.
There was fight, there was a willingness to get down and dirty, there was aggression and there was an attitude that said “f-you, we are Kerry” and we will not back down.
It was everything that the men in green and gold lacked last September and it is precisely what the Kingdom need to show this Sunday if they are to win.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice has no intention of highlighting to Jim Gavin how he will approach Dublin if the counties meet again, as expected, in an All-Ireland semi-final in August.
In some respects, it is a free pass for both sides to just go out, have a cut and play 15 v 15 to see what happens.
But both managers also know that a Dublin win reinforces the idea that the Sky Blues have the voodoo sign over Kerry, going back to 2011.
That is why a Kerry win is a must for Eamonn Fitzmaurice by whatever means and why Gavin is more eager for that scalp than the record of four league crowns in-a-row.
A Kerry win might just plant a seed of doubt in a Dublin side unlikely to face any serious opposition until August.
A Kerry loss, however, is another bad day in Croke Park for a team that is failing to beat their biggest rivals when it really matters.
Jim Gavin may publicly pass it off as a mere defeat if it comes but, privately, losing to Kerry at any stage of the season hurts.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice may make an excuse for his team having gotten another crack at Dublin but he will be disappointed at his players’ failure to clear a major mental hurdle
He was very cranky last year when Kerry turned over Dublin in the league in 2015 and it was the one occasion when the mask slipped as he seethed at a home win in Killarney.
This is more than a league final. This is psychological warfare.
Ultimately Sunday’s game may not be the entertaining fare the 70,000+ fans are hoping for.
The desire and hunger for Kerry to win means Fitzmaurice will be hoping his team use controlled aggression and strong defensive nous to frustrate Dublin.
With no James O’Donoghue, Kerry needs to think differently and Colm Cooper will not be tracking Philly McMahon this time around.
Dublin for their part too will try to clog up the avenues for Kerry attacks and use their now infamous basketball-style ‘blocking’ to shut out Darren O’Sullivan and Stephen O’Brien.
The third Sunday of September seems a long way from both team’s minds at present but perhaps the effects of Sunday’s league final may stretch all the way from spring success to autumn glory.
Sunday is not just a league final; it is so much more than that. The celebrations of either side will tell you exactly how much come 5pm.
