Former Kerry star, Barry O’Shea, says Kerry’s class up front could be enough to bring home title No.38…

ONE of the main talking points all week has been if Kerry get on top of Stephen Cluxton’s kick-outs it will go a long way in winning the match.

But people have to remember the last two times Kerry played Dublin they did exactly that and still lost.

So maybe the kick-outs are as key to the game as many people think. Kerry will setup in a zonal system where all six forwards will hold their position, so basically every Kerry forward will set up in an imaginary box to cover the space Cluxton can kick into.

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That’s the way they’ll probably do it, but it’s been proven before that kick-outs are not the be all and end all to winning match.

Kerry will fancy their chances if Cluxton is forced to go long. They’ll feel they can win the midfield battle, but the same was felt going into the Tyrone game and the Northern side ended up coming away with a lot of the longer kick outs with Kerry winning the short kick out battle that day.

Games do take on a life of their own, but I still think Kerry will definitely put pressure on the Dublin kick-outs.

It could become a battle for breaking ball in the middle of the field.

Maher and Moran aren’t going to catch clean possession every time so it’s going to be down to fellas getting stuck in for breaking ball.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice shuffled the deck again with the announcement last night that Marc Ó Sé (hamstring) and Paul Murphy (hip) are out while the decision to drop Kieran Donaghy for Paul Geaney looks tactical.

We’ve been told all year that Kerry have a strong bench so that means great players would be left out of the starting 15. But when it happens there’s shock and horror.

Management see the players nearly every day of the week so they know their up-to-date form. I’ve been saying all year you have to trust them. Up to now they’ve got these things right so I’m comfortable they know what they’re doing.

There has been talk that Paul Murphy is on the bench specifically to curb the effect of Kevin McManaman when he is sprung, but we don’t know for sure.

Is that just a story that has grown legs around the place? Things like that we just have to wait and see if they develop that way.

It’s a logical switch, but things don’t always work out the way you’d like. Maybe Murphy might have to come on early and we don’t know the extent of his hip injury either.

One thing is, I don’t think that the injuries to the two defenders are that severe if they have been named on the bench. They’re obviously capable of making a contribution.

If they have been named on the bench, you’d think there’s at least a half a game in them.

With Aidan O’Mahony coming in, some people have suggested he might be used as a sweeper, but it’s difficult to play a sweeper against Dublin because if you leave one of their forwards in a pocket of space, they’re just going to knock it over your head and over the bar.

You can afford a sweeper against a team that wouldn’t be as proficient at kicking the ball over from 40 yards and that’s certainly not Dublin.

I think Kerry may play a similar system they played against Donegal last year, where basically the six backs play in their assigned positions and maybe have one attacking defender at a time with the other five hanging back in their positions.

Having five defenders in defensive mode at all times during the game rather than the half back line getting sucked out into attacking positions.

Dublin are going to score big. It’s very hard to keep the score down against Dublin, there’s not going to be a scenario where Dublin will only get 10 or 11 points.

We could be looking at them scoring something like 1-15, so to score more than 18 points to win the All-Ireland is what Kerry’s target will have to be.

The defence is going to have to play exceptionally well and midfield are going to work like dogs and hopefully the lads up front can show their quality and win it, but it’s not going to be that easy for them either.

I remember in 2013, Philly McMahon, was moved onto James O’Donoghue who had scored two goals in the first.

Philly, roughed him up a bit and got away with it, maybe Dublin might do that again?

So we’ll need a referee to be aware of these things.

If James, Colm and Paul Geaney, get any decent amount of ball into their hands I think, they will score. So our big thing will be keep the door shut at the back and we should have enough at the other end.

One of the big calls Fitzmaurice has had to make is dropping his captain. Kieran Donaghy has proven he can do it on the big day, but it would have also been a big call not to pick Geaney because of the form he’s in.

Paul can fit into that role left by Donaghy. He’s got an eye for goal as we remember well from last year’s final and he’s got a great pair of hands too. So the high ball option is still on the table with the Dingle man inside.

Geaney, isn’t lightning quick in his legs, but lightning quick in the head. He’s a player I really like to watch play because he’s just got something about him, he’s a danger every time he gets possession.

This match is the battle of the two best teams in the country, the two best footballing teams and they’re also the two most tactically aware teams.

I find it very difficult to split between them.

For every strength Kerry have, Dublin equally have strength and likewise on the weakness side.

The one thing that swings it for me is our touch of class in the forward line, which I hope will tip the balance in Kerry’s favour by a very close margin.

Verdict – Kerry by 2