The 2016 Championship has been a strange one. It does not feel like we should be where we are right now, one semi-final down, the other just days away. It is as if we fell asleep on the train and have suddenly arrived at our destination - a well-frequented one, Dublin vs Kerry. Stops were surely missed. Clare twice and Tipperary can't be the only stations Kerry visited on the way.
Here we are, though.
Dublin, even without 2015's Footballer of the Year and the man who solved their fullback problem - Jack McCaffrey and Rory O'Carroll respectively - have still looked All-Ireland champions in waiting all season.
Kerry's preparations - game-wise that is, who knows what's going on behind the walls of Fitzgerald Stadium - have been inadequate for a semi-final against the Jim Gavin-machine. It's seven years since Kerry beat Dublin in the Championship. The odds are against the Kingdom ending that run on Sunday.
Recent meetings between the two have been one-sided affairs. Dublin have won the last three games by a combined total of 20 points.
Though April's League final was a close game, on the scoreboard, until the sending off of Aidan O'Mahony, it never felt like an encounter Kerry were going to win. The same can be said of last September's All-Ireland final.
If Kerry are to beat Dublin on Sunday, they will have to take every opportunity. The early minutes of Kerry's quarter-final against Clare showed that if Eamonn Fitzmaurice's side do not have the right personnel of the pitch, then it's unlikely they can do that. Two 45s were entrusted to David Moran in the opening ten minutes. Both were weak attempts. Thereafter, Kerry looked to go short rather than attempt the score.
It was not until the second half, when Bryan Sheehan entered the game as a sub, that Kerry nailed a long-range point from a deadball. Missed opportunities were immaterial to the result against Clare, they will not be against Dublin. Seeing chances like that wasted is incredibly deflating. Seeing them float over Stephen Cluxton's head would be a real lift.
Given the necessity for Kerry to take their chances against Dublin, Sheehan will have to be on the pitch. Recent rumours – which there was certainly a willingness to believe - regarding the possibility of Sheehan playing in goal for Kerry showed others have realised this too.
The 30-year-old is probably the best free taker in the country. There is no one else on the Kerry panel who can match his accuracy from long-range. James O'Donoghue has the distance but probably not the accuracy. The evidence is against David Moran as an option going on the Clare match.
Commit fouls within 45 – 50 metres and the umpire's white flag is highly likely to be raised, if Sheehan is on the field.
A meticulously prepared manager like Gavin will be ready should Sheehan start the game. Dublin players will undoubtedly be drilled on the danger of handing him makeable opportunities. Just having him on the pitch will also be an advantage for Kerry. An unwillingness on the part of Dublin defenders to commit fouls could open up avenues of attack for Kerry, especially for goals which will certainly be required to win. Also, Sheehan has qualities beyond being a deadball specialist. He's a superb fielder and passer. He would not be a passenger.
Kerry's problem is where to play the Cahirciveen man. That's another reason the goalkeeper rumours had a sniff of credibility. He has regularly played in midfield. However, Kieran Donaghy and David Moran have been the preferred partnership so far and if Anthony Maher is fully fit, he came on as sub versus Clare, then he would surely get the nod to partner Moran. Over the previous two years, the Maher and Moran midfielder partnership has looked like the best in the Gaelic football.
Somewhere on the half-forward line is another possibility. Positions would already appear to have been locked down though. But if Fitzmaurice was to move Paul Murphy to half-back, even though he has played in the half-forward line for the majority of the year, it could open up a place for Sheehan. Murphy won an All-Star at corner-back in 2014. Giving him a man-marking job on Diarmuid Connolly or Ciaran Kilkenny could certainly happen.
What goes against Sheehan is a rumours about a lack of form. He is likely exhausted after a long club championship which saw him win a Kerry Senior Club Championship with South Kerry and an All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship with St. Mary's. Still, he would add more to the Kerry cause than subtract.
Of course, it will take more to beat Dublin than simply ensuring Kerry take those deadball opportunities by having Sheehan on the pitch. Fitzmaurice will have been considering this game since late last year and has likely been formulating a plan since. It's going to be interesting to see what rabbits he pulls from the green and gold hat.
Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
