GAELIC FOOTBALL HAS seen the rise of the machines — and Dermot Earley knows that Kildare will have to play out of their skins if they are to put a spanner in Dublin’s Leinster defence.

The two rivals collide in Croke Park on Sunday afternoon, their first Championship clash since the 2011 provincial semi and the controversial stoppage-time free which saw Bernard Brogan kick the Dubs to a one-point win.

Pat Gilroy’s side went on to add another Leinster title to the trophy cabinet and then ended their 17-year wait for All-Ireland glory by stunning Kerry that September.

But for Kildare the bitter defeat meant another season roaming the wilderness of the football qualifiers, a route which ultimately hit a dead end in a gripping quarter-final against Donegal.

The 2011 season may have been Earley’s last real chance at an All-Ireland title of his own, and plagued by recurring injuries, the Sarsfields midfielder was forced to retire from inter-county football earlier this year.

The game has changed a lot since he made his Championship debut back in 1997 and now, with the country’s top teams so ruthless at forcing mistakes and then punishing them, he says Kildare have no margin for error on Sunday.

“I think you have to go beyond Dublin’s level of intensity. You can’t match it, you have to actually go beyond it. The pace and the way they play the game, their directness, their tackling, everything — you have to go beyond that and play that way yourself I think.

Obviously Dublin’s full forward line is probably their strongest area and denying possession into that is probably one of the main reasons you’ll stop them. That means working extremely hard out around the middle part of the field, stopping the runs, tackling them and stopping that delivery in.

It sounds easy when you talk about it but it’s going to take a huge amount of effort because Dublin are developing into a machine where they move in waves, they come back in waves, so how you stop that wave is going to be very hard. We’re going to really have to outwork them.

Aindriú Mac Lochlainn protests as referee Cormac Reilly awards the free which decided the 2011 Leinster semi-final in Dublin’s favour (©INPHO/Cathal Noonan)

He adds: “In the last five years, the game has really changed. It’s almost all zonal.

We saw it [from Donegal] against Down on Sunday. If you make any mistakes you’re punished by these teams. They come in a wave and you just can’t do that. That’s the whole idea, you just can’t give the ball away. That’s the way it’s going. You don’t have those one-to-one battles any more, maybe inside in the full-forward line where there is that little bit of space, but out the field it’s more zonal.

Though star men like John Doyle aren’t getting any younger, Kildare have caught a glimpse of the future this year with a handful of the county’s U21 talent making an instant impact at the senior grade.

Earley remembers exactly how it felt to be a teenager thrown in at the inter-county deep end and if Kieran McGeeney’s men can dethrone the champions on Sunday, he feels it could kick-start a promising new era.

“To get over a team like Dublin, not only for the younger players but for the older players as well and the team itself, it would be massive to get into a Leinster final.

“Kildare haven’t really beaten a top four team in the Championship and that’s another thing as well, just to get over that hurdle. You look at Donegal and the confidence they got from winning their provincial title to where they are now. We met a couple of years ago and there was just a kick of the ball between us. That was an intense game and Donegal kicked on and we probably went a little bit back.

“Hopefully I think this year we’re picking up the pieces and getting it together and getting it right. I think there’s going to be not much in this game on Sunday either way and whether it’s a Dublin victory or a Kildare victory, it’s going to be close.”

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