Dublin cannot claim to be a truly great side unless they overcome Mayo

As a Dubliner, I was asked last year if the success of Jim Gavin's side was boring.

My response was that it would only be boring once they won five All-Irelands in a row. Dubs are highly jealous of Kerry's haul of Sam Maguire trophies - 37 for The Kingdom compared to Dublin's 24. That is how they measure success. 2011 felt like the start of something - Cluxton with the winning point, Bernard Brogan unstoppable, Kevin McManamon the super-sub, Bryan Cullen's "See yiz in Coppers!" Mayo shot their wheels out in 2012 before losing out in the final to Donegal. Dublin redeemed themselves in 2013, beating Mayo to win another Sam, and looked set to retain their trophy in 2014. They missed a hatful of scoring chances against Jim McGuinness' Donegal, fell behind and were picked off by sweeping counter-attacks in the second half. Destiny blown to dust. Jim Gavin has attempted to deepen the player pool this year - he wants his team to concentrate on winning first. Taking low percentage pops at goal is not on Gavin's agenda. This was evident from the way they accumulated points in the quarter-final win over Fermanagh. Brogan netted a first-half goal but that was the biggest gimme of the season from the Fermanagh defenders. The only time Dublin truly went off script was when Sean Quigley ram-raided Cluxton over the goal-line. Their rage was sated, 90 seconds later, when Paul Flynn blasted home an emphatic answer. On Sunday, Dublin face off against their old foes from the west. Two sides that have swept aside all comers and it is hard to get a take on how their performances this season should really be stacked up. Dublin would have been seen as clear favourites to advance to their third final in five championship summers. That was until Mayo eviscerated Donegal 2-13 to 1-11. Aidan O'Shea led the forward line and was beastly. Lee Keegan was a handful - one day he may admit, though, that his goal was less than planned. https://youtu.be/h0nWcWxbOA8 Gavin will be delighted that the Dubs have come into their last four clash under the radar. In fact, were it not for the challenge match shenanigans that left Davey Byrne hospitalised, Dublin would have steered well clear of back-page [and website] headlines. Make no doubt about it - this is Dublin's chance to step up from talented squad to era-defining stuff. The sign of a truly great side is to put their foot on opponents' throat while they are down. The future is by no means bleak for the [mostly young] men from the capital but another semi-final failure would set a bad precedent and plant sizeable seeds of doubt. No one football side in the country can claim to have the winning mentality that flows through the veins of Kilkenny's hurlers. When the Cats are playing badly, they usually get the win. One bad championship is rarely followed by another. It is often followed with their captain of choice raising the Liam MacCarthy. Winning their next two games would be huge for Dublin. All of a sudden, it would be three All-Irelands in five years. Not quite era-defining but a damn good start. The current squad has the talent to challenge to for the next six years. By the end of this decade, players like Jack McCaffrey, Flynn and Ciaran Kilkenny could have five or six All-Irelands to their name. Only then would it become boring.

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