Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

The All-Ireland final is upon us and Emmet Moloney can only see one winner...

Back in the good old days, when the GAA was strictly amateur, teams would be taken away for a week or two before an All-Ireland final. That's right: taken away with all expenses paid to training camps to ensure they ate right and put in some physical preparations for the big game. Almost every county did it, the GAA seemingly had no problem with it and the players benefitted greatly from the diet and camaraderie. The relief man would cover the farm, the county board would cover him. GPA? The GAA were at this decades ago!

Nowadays, teams do this at the end of the year and they go to Hawaii or Thailand. In the old days it was done in the week before the All-Ireland and it was a local hotel or FCA camp. Well, if Pat Gilroy had his way, that practice would be reinstated for Dublin's footballers over the past week or so because they must be feeling it. The hype in the city is everywhere and players simply cannot avoid it. Some will embrace it or try to embrace it, but there is no getting away from it.

Experience must be earned and this is Dublin's first All-Ireland final since 1995. None of the current squad have ever played in one. This is all new to them. This week, the madness of it, might make or break them. Some players will thrive in the bubble they are forced to live in, others will be affected and this will be seen on the day of the final. There must be side effects to the attention that is being absolutely shovelled on top of them. Right now a Dublin footballer is a cross between a rock star and a Premiership star around the city. I'm only guessing here, but that must be tough to live with!

Meanwhile, less than 200 miles away you're likely to meet a Kerry footballer in your local bank, your local supermarket, your local bookies or even your local fashion accessory store! There might be the good luck nod but that's about it. Players like the Gooch and Declan O'Sullivan played in six All-Ireland finals in a row from 2004 to 2009. Six finals in a row. Think about that. Now think about the Brogan boys and the week they're having. Can they even go outside the door? Advantage Kerry.

That's what you look for when assessing teams in the run-up to an All-Ireland final. Most of the advantages were stacked with Kilkenny and so it proved; most of them are stacked with the Kingdom here and so it will prove.
At the start of the year, Dublin were certainly my pick for Sam Maguire. Their improvement over the past three years has been incremental and this All-Ireland final appearance is only the beginning for most of them. They're a serious team and they're here for a few years.

Facing Kerry in the final is both a help and a hindrance. It's a help because Kerry will be favourites and that's important for a team in their first final. Dublin's history of favouritism in All-Ireland finals isn't great in recent years. Despite having won 22 All-Irelands, they've only managed two in the last 34 years. It's a hindrance because Kerry are Kerry.

Expect a good game. Both teams play a very attractive brand of football and there's a freedom to their play. As long as this Kerry team aren't playing Tyrone in an All-Ireland final, they tend to perform. Their big players tend to perform and it's almost a guarantee that Cooper will do damage. How do you defend against him?

He'll be giving the Dublin backs a few sleepless nights and that's as it should be. But he mightn't even be the man to finish them off. I have a suspicion that Kieran Donaghy will have a huge game as he's been fairly quiet for the championship. With a nickname like The Star, he's been engineered to deliver on days like this.

The only chink that Kerry people are prepared to admit to is in their back line. Eoin Brosnan is having treatment in a cryotherapy chamber all week and from being discussed as their weakest link earlier in the summer, now he is vital to their prospects.

That's how All-Ireland build-ups always go. There's always a player on the 50-50 list who almost always makes the game and plays out of his skin (Colin Fennelly, anyone?). Brosnan is an attacking centre-back and that suits the Kerry way of moving the ball. He'll play and he'll make a difference.
So is the Kerry back line vulnerable? Possibly, but when your forwards score over 20 points in every game, what's the big deal! Dublin's only chance of beating Kerry is in a tight contest. No team is going to win a free-flowing contest against the Kingdom unless they score four or five goals.

So Dublin's backs are going to be under the cosh. Legally holding the Kerry running game requires incredible energy, discipline, strength and a referee who lets it go. Joe McQuillan is the man in the middle on Sunday and good luck to him; he'll have a lot of friends on the Hill offering their advice!
This is McQuillan's first final and unfortunately that will probably be a topic on The Sunday Game after the match. You'd feel for any referee these days in the age of technology that offers different angles and cold light of day analysis of decisions. McQuillan, like any human referee, won't get everything right. Let's hope there isn't a decision the Dubs feel costs them the game because if there is, we'll never hear the end of it. It's a brave man that takes the whistle at this level. Let's hope McQuillan gets all the support he needs from his team.

The match itself? Hopefully it will be close. With all the hype about the Brogans and Diarmuid Connolly escaping suspension, it would be no surprise if there was an air of anti-climax about the Dubs. This game is a big ask for them.

Players like Bryan Cullen and Paul Flynn are wholehearted men who will revel in this occasion. Eoghan O'Gara has a bold streak in him and he could get goals. But having to bring your goalie up the field to take 45s is a little bit ridiculous. Stephen Cluxton will have enough to do without this circus. I'd wonder about a team that cannot produce a forward with the ability or confidence to kick frees from the ground. That's a hole in the Dublin psyche and that does not bode well for them.

There will be hype about Paul Galvin starting or not. But that won't bother Kerry. I suspect he won't start purely because the entire starting 15 will know that if anyone isn't performing, Galvin will be on - and probably before half-time. That's a powerful incentive for back and forward alike to make sure they're not the one called ashore for the fashionista. Galvin will play a part and he'll probably win his medal on the pitch.
It has to be Kerry.

It will be Kerry. To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Irish Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...