VIDEO: Five Reasons Why We Love To Beat The Dubs

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It’s, arguably, the greatest rivalry in the GAA and with another meeting with the Dubs coming up on  Sunday, Gavin O’Connor reflects on why it’s such a special fixture we love to win…

1. Tradition

2015 marks the 60th anniversary since Kerry beat Dublin in the 1955 decider. It is noted for being the game that sparked the modern rivalry.

The winning Kerry captain in the final was John Dowling and six decades on his grandson, Barry John Keane retains the link.

2. The great rivalry in the 70’s

Between 1975 and 1979, Kerry and Dublin contested four All-Ireland Finals and one semi-final, with Kerry winning three of the five match ups.

The highlight for many Kerry fans was the 1978 final when Kerry annihilated the Dubs by 5-11 to 0-9 points and the Bomber announced his arrival on the big stage with a hat-trick.

3, Tommy Carr Shouting at Maurice 

In Thurles, in the All-Ireland quarter final of 2001, a genius stroked his brush, while on the sideline an onlooker did everything in his power to prevent the world ever seeing such beauty.

Thankfully, the great Cahersiveen man held his nerve and with a little help from the breeze gave us arguably the greatest GAA score of all time. You’ve seen it a million times before and hopefully a million times more.

4, Keeping ‘the Hill’ quiet 

In Croke Park, if the Dubs are on song, the Hill comes alive and propels them even further. In the All-Ireland quarter-final of 2009, the old terrace decked in blue was muted to silence after 30 seconds when the Gooch hit the net.

What followed was one of the most complete performances ever by the Kingdom.

5, Because it hurts when we lose to them

Currently Kerry are on pretty bad run of results against Dublin with only one win in seven since that 2009 quarter-final.

In that time we have seen dark days particularly the 2011 final. Though we would like to forget we can’t, but great rivalries are built on pain as much as joy.

With Dublin heavily fancied in the 2013 semi-final, almost no one gave Kerry a chance, but they put in an incredible performance in a classic and just fell short.

Fast forward to 2015, Kerry are champions again and out to settle some old scores…

One Comment

  1. Best wishes to Frank McCarthy a fellow clubman from Fossa good luck Frank keep the flag flying

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