Dublin may need Diarmuid Connolly to get over Kerry, says Tomas Quinn

In 2017, Diarmuid Connolly had missed much of Dublin's summer campaign. But when their need was greatest in the All-Ireland final, trailing Mayo at the break, Jim Gavin turned to Connolly to steer the Sky Blues home.

In 2019, the St Vincent's club man joined the squad mid-summer, having not appeared for the Sky Blues since February 2018. However, he has not been called back into the squad merely to make up numbers.

"I think its clear that from the way Dublin pick their squads, they do not pick anything on sentiment," Connolly's club mate and ex-Dublin star Tomas Quinn said.

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"Anyone who's in that 26, they feel has a role to play, or there could be an opportunity that they are going to see game time. The fact that Diarmuid played up in Tyrone, he came on the last day towards the end of the game, but the fact that he's there in the mix, I would say it's going to be close coming into the last 15, 20 minutes, Dublin are going to need guys to make an impact as they always have.

"I think they're going to need five or six guys, and I absolutely think when they run around and look at the bench, he's one of the guys. I think there's a trust there that he'll make good decisions with the ball. I think there is a possibility that you'll see him."

Of course, the dilemma for the Dublin management in bringing him into the squad was it could possibly cause unrest amongst the players who have been going through the slog in training since last winter.

However, Quinn feels there is a maturity in the group to ensure such frustrations were kept to a minimum:

"Whether you're young or old, everyone is ultimately focusing on themselves first and foremost to try and get in there.

"I would say the culture within this group, selfishly someone probably looked at it and said, 'Well that didn't help me', but if Diarmuid being back in helps us to get over the line to win an All-Ireland, I think that's what they understand.

"I don't think the group would have the level of success it's had in the last couple of years if that was the overriding [selfishness]. So yeah, initially guys might have thought, 'Well what's happening here? What's does it mean for me?', but ultimately they are pushing and striving. I think its something that players have to come to terms with.

"The players were big enough and mature enough to understand that it was for the greater good."

Quinn ended his own intercounty career after Dublin finally reached the summit of the game. After a 16-year drought, they got over the line against Kerry in the 2011 All-Ireland final - their first championship win over the Kingdom in 34 years.

Since then, the tables have turned, and the men from the capital have dominated the rivalry this decade, winning all four clashes.

"I was part of the Dublin team in the 2000s and until we got over the line against them in championship in the All-Ireland final of 2011, we didn't beat Kerry for an awful long time," explained Quinn. "It got frustrating hearing people talking about a rivalry and people talking about the great respect.

"We kept losing to them.

"It wasn't a rivalry until we actually started beating them."

[Kerry] looked like a team fed up with losing to Dublin.

However, there is a renewed confidence in the Munster county after an influx of young talent, and their National League win over Dublin in February could potentially be used as a springboard.

"Their victory in Tralee earlier on in the league would be a big thing for them," 'Mossy' Quinn said.

"I know for us as a squad when we beat them down in Killarney in 2010 and then in the league in 2011, they were big games for us. Sometimes teams can say it's only the league or Kerry had won the All-Ireland in 2009 and they were probably later back and we definitely had more work done. For us it was definitely a line in the sand.

"I was down in Tralee that night during the league this year and part of me was thinking that looked like a team fed up with losing to Dublin and again they are on the other side of it now. To make it a rivalry they have to start beating Dublin."

Watch Dublin vs Kerry in the All-Ireland final live on Sky Sports Arena from 2.30pm on Sunday.

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