And, sure, Kerry stormed by them to win by a whisker. It is from this low, low point that this Kerry team are viewing this afternoon's great semi-final meeting with Dublin.

They have a long uphill battle ahead of them after their dreadful quarterfinal performance. With the game looking out of their reach and with Monaghan looking good for an historic victory, a half-decent Kerry team was reduced to the antics of a bunch of juvenile footballers. We watched grown men in green and gold, a great many of them with two All-Ireland medals pinned to their chests, carefully working the ball up to within 70 yards and 60 yards of the Monaghan goalmouth . . . and then lobbing it in the direction of Kieran Donaghy.

Eventually, a defender under pressure from Donaghy knocked down one ball and Kerry got the goal that saved Pat O'Shea's bacon.

But it was bad, bad, bad football, and I couldn't help trying to work out for myself how far Kerry football has fallen, in full view of the last generation of GAA fans.

Kieran Donaghy acting as a telegraph-pole in front of an opponent's goal got Kerry out of a 'bad place' last summer and won them an All-Ireland which, thanks to Mayo's second vanishing act in three years, was of precious little value. But if the future of the Kerry football is dependant upon 'Hail Mary' (that's what they call them in the American NFL) passes being sent in Kieran Donaghy's general direction, then it has to be said. . .

The Kingdom no longer rules. It's finished, it's kaput. There is no such place worthy of . . . and living up to - this mighty name anymore, and the GAA has lost its most prized territory.

Now, let me tell you, I don't like writing this and I don't like you having to read this judgement of mine on the morning of yet, another, so tempting Kerry-Dublin meeting. I love Kerry football. Some of my best friends are Kerry people. Actually, I am in awe of the fabulous county and the smart, always sensible men and women produced there.

However (and this is a thundering however), I'm not going to come out with the false patronising commentary which almost everyone else in this writing business has been offering up in recent years. They're all afraid of saying 'boo' in front of a Kerry football team - terrified, most of them.

I'm going to tell you that Kerry football teams have barely left a mark on the game for over 20 years - less than a handful of All-Irelands, and not one of them truly memorable in my book.

Equally, Kerry stopped producing 'giants' of the game over the last two decades. Apart from Darragh O Se.

He's for real, a living giant. But Seamus Moynihan was never one of the greatest footballers of this or any other generation - he was, just, exceptionally good, and strong and brave.

A few weeks ago, I wrote that 'The Gooch' was like Tiger Woods stuck on two 'majors', and I firmly believe that he gets far too much praise, far too quickly from most quarters. Colm Cooper is a tricky, accurate inside forward, with a sublime touch on occasions which are quite infrequent. He needs a massive 'second-half ' to his career if he is to be measured up against Pat Spillane or Mikey Sheehy or John Egan.

Naturally, it would be right to assume that I give Kerry no chance of winning this afternoon's semi-final, and gaining access to an All-Ireland final against Cork which would warm all Kerry hearts. Kerry and Cork, right now, are both in Dublin's pocket.

If Kerry are to make a real game of this 'semi', they will have to begin by taking Donaghy from full-forward and allow him 70 minutes of athletic 'fun' beside O Se in the middle. Pat O'Shea should actually take this page from Billy Morgan's game-book last Sunday.

Morgan sent Michael Cussen roaming and for a tall, rangy player he played a significant, little role in Cork's stunning, though predictable, victory.

Donaghy is twice as good a footballer as Cussen. He's got greater confidence in himself, and he has the intelligence to make a difference on the football field. He's really lost at No. 14. The Kerry management would be far better off putting Cooper in that shirt for the next four or five years and asking him, every single game, is he a man or a mouse or is he 'Gooch the Great'?

My money, still, would be on Cooper showing us just how great a footballer he is, and I genuinely would love to witness him living up to his name and showing us all that his reputation was not over-inflated at too young an age.

Cooper in front of the square, in front of Ross McConnell (or whoever else the Dublin management team decide to send in his direction) should be an easy call this afternoon.

Kerry were in ragged condition by the time they started celebrating their quarter-final victory over Monaghan.

Their defence had been stretched, and stretched again. Their midfield pairing had been muscled out of the contest before it was half-over. And their forward division had been sent packing by the Monaghan defence - Galvin with a sore shoulder, and Brosnan and Frank Russell, with nothing to show for the afternoon, were taken off.

The kids who replaced them are only kids. Bryan Sheehan and Darren O'Sullivan have not even finished their apprenticeships as Kerry footballers.

The Kerry team is down and that's why most of the country imagines they are going to be incredibly dangerous this afternoon. I don't think so.

If this Dublin team is worth its salt it will work solidly for 50 or 55 minutes and coast home, in a business-like manner (rather than a holiday-like manner). I honestly believe this Dublin team is lacking in genius, and has no great magical quality to it, but it has brought itself to a position over the last six years (not three) where it believes, solidly, truly, that it is the best football team in the country.

Believing is half the battle, and if Dublin hold their nerve once again, as they did brilliantly against Derry in their quarter-final win, they will be in an All-Ireland final before they know it.

This Dublin team in an All-Ireland final will surely behave like men entering a five-star hotel in a promised land.

They'll make themselves at home, and look and feel absolutely fantastic.

Dublin are so close, finally, and the poorest and most shaken Kerry team of the last 20 years are in their way. It does not have to be all that close. Dublin could, all going well, win this game by anything between five and 10 points.

It all depends, really, on the Dublin defence. It's got to hold up, that's all.

Last week, we said that in a contest between a 'great' Cork defence and a 'very good' Meath attack, that the defence looked the winner. And so it was. Today, we've got a 'very good' Dublin defence against a 'good' Kerry forward-line. If defence holds solid, The Dubs are home.

There are no real doubts over Dublin's ability to, at the very least, win an even share of the good ball and spoiled ball in the middle third of the field. Ciaran Whelan and Shane Ryan are the number one midfield pairing in the country, and Cahill, Cullen, and Moran are going to put their lives on the line for every loose ball. Kerry footballers never lack bravery when it comes to the ugly side of the game either but this Dublin team will not lose out when it comes to measuring out the raw courage on display.

It's in Kerry's front garden, however, that Dublin can also profit and win the game. Any team, coming into the month of August, which has forwards as scorehungry as Alan and Bernard Brogan, and Jason Sherlock and Mark Vaughan, has to be as happy as it is confident.

The Dubs have more forwards bang in form than Kerry, they have two 'new' forwards (in Bernard Brogan and Vaughan) who are lapping up the big time and who do not seem to realise they should be very afraid. And they have Conal Keaney - Dublin's 'secret' All-Ireland winning weapon. Keaney has had a relatively quiet summer but has time on his side to be the most important footballer on this Dublin team. He might just take what's left of the championship by the throat.

All that powerful scoring ability favours Dublin and that's before anyone thinks of Ray Cosgrove or Mossy Quinn, either of whom could be worth an All-Ireland winning point.

As I asked last week - spread the two teams out on the table in front of you, weigh them up, shake them around, hell, turn them upside down and whichever way you look at it, this day is going to end up with a Dublin victory. Unless Dublin fold, or get caught in holiday mode in the final five minutes, and neither of those happenings are going to disturb or turnaround the result of this semi-final.

Dublin by a magical, but believable, seven or eight points.