The last time Dublin lost an All Ireland Football Final was back in 1994, just shy of 30 years ago. It was their third reverse in a row since beating Galway in 1983. Since that reversal they have been there on the biggest day of the GAA year on ten occasions and have won every one of them.
Tyrone in 1995, then the long drought until Kerry in 2011, Mayo in 2013, Kerry again in 2015, Mayo twice more in 2016 and 2017, Tyrone in 2018, Kerry in 2019 to secure the historic five in a row, then Mayo again for good measure the following year and now Kerry again on a day when history was made with Stephen Cluxton, James McCarthy and Mick Fitzsimons winning a ninth title.
There was a point when Kerry led by three with momentum after 50 minutes when it looked like this remarkable record would be shattered but when a team inherently knows how to win on the biggest occasions they can draw on something deep inside to get them over the line.
Ten All Ireland wins in a row is an incredible achievement, this is an incredible team.
It was poignant in a number of ways as well. John Costello who has been CEO of Dublin GAA over this remarkable period of success is in his final season.
His is the work behind the scenes that laid the foundation for success. It was less about having money as knowing where and how to spend it not to win one title but to create the most successful team in history.
It is right that tribute was paid to him yesterday from the steps of the Hogan Stand and again last night on the Sunday Game.
AIG is also stepping away. The last wearing of their iconic logo on the Blue jersey will fittingly be in two weeks time when Dublin and Kerry go at it again in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Final.
They have also been an important part of the story, using their marketing expertise to capture the mood, to tell the stories not only of the stars but of the clubs and the infrastructure that make up any county, but which have chimed in perfect harmony in Dublin over the Decade they have been involved.
John Gillick, brother of David, has been the one pulling the strings there and also deserves a huge pat on the back for a job well done.
Dessie Farrell, as manager of this group had the unenviable task of following the Five in a row winning Jim Gavin but may have achieved even more by bringing them back to the top and securing his second title. He is a man of huge integrity who thinks deeply about purpose, legacy and the players. This was a great win for a good man.
Yesterday brings the curtain down on the season of Inter County games in the GAA. Camogie and Ladies Football will keep the Gaelic Games flag flying at Croke Park over the next two weekends and will hopefully draw record crowds again to mark their advance in the wider public consciousness.
The Club Championship season will then take centre stage and draw into the Autumn.
There has been a nostalgia for September All Ireland Finals and the magic of schools getting behind the finalist teams but that ship has sailed.
The players and the managers, the clubs and the counties are now committed to the new rhythm of the season and it works.
Where previously there were only two counties in each code that could enjoy delivering excitement on the return to school, now every county can do the same, and give a push behind their real local sporting heroes in the clubs in every corner of the country.
The Tailteann Cup has arrived in this same period of the split season and has delivered well, giving a meaningful summer to every county, having each football team in action on the same weekend for the first time ever, and also giving extra bite to the Allianz Leagues.
As the smoke from the flares fades away, and the centre of the Croke Park pitch is repainted for the two more weekend ahead, we can and will reflect on ways in which the GAA season still holds us in thrall, in a way that no (almost) exclusively national sport anywhere in the world can match, but also on how it can continue to be tweaked so that the best of our games can continue in that fashion
