All-Ireland SFC Quarter-finalToday will be a litmus test for Dublin and a proper examination of their credentials as All-Ireland aspirants. There are so many questions ahead of what should prove to be a tight, intriguing tussle that promises so much.

The amount of football that Tyrone have played to reach this stage suggests there should be a little weariness if not at the start of the game then coming into the final throes. It’ll be so important to replace flagging players, not when they are totally spent but when they show the initial signs of waning. Both managements will have a huge responsibility in this respect.

Tyrone’s performance in the early stages of the Monaghan match showed a mental complacency and a lack of edge, physically. They didn’t panic and gradually resolved the issues posed. Manager Mickey Harte also had the courage to emphatically address the problems of an under-performing full-back line by taking off a couple of players. The availability of Ryan McMenamin is a huge fillip.

Dublin, in contrast, should be well rested and the consistency of their selection shows a settled team, something that traditionally augurs well.

They have started each match all guns blazing, and it’ll be interesting to see if they can replicate that high intensity opening. The fact that they will be comfortable in their surroundings – big crowd and the Croke Park venue – is an important factor.

The one question that hovers over every Dublin performance is whether the forwards can produce sufficient scores from what this season has been a glut of possession to win the match. That unit of the team has not been getting the return that the amount of ball they received would warrant. They need to be more clinical and accurate.

Conal Keaney and Mossy Quinn have got to contribute more from play, so too Collie Moran.

Bryan Cullen has been a revelation in his newly-defined forward role while Jason Sherlock’s selfless running for the team is admirable.

He opens space up for others, yet ironically is probably the only forward – Alan Brogan aside – capable of creating and finishing goal opportunities.

I like the way Brogan runs at defenders, asking questions and forcing opponents to tackle. He’ll need to do that again with a slightly more tangible end product in terms of scoring.

The Dubs need to produce more scores from periods when they are dominating, an area in which they have fallen down this season. A team can’t be guaranteed 60 per cent of the possession in every game and that’s the sort of figure the Dubs seem to need to just squeak through in matches. Tyrone have a very high work ethic as I experienced first hand when they beat Kerry in an All-Ireland final, a style that has not changed in the interim.

They swarm around in numbers when the opposition is in possession and a player is surrounded unless the ball is played quickly, something Dublin will have to do. He who dithers will be smothered.

When they have the ball Tyrone all seem to have players in support of the ball carrier, running hard for one another to provide options. They don’t usually give the ball away cheaply.

They work ball cleverly to create space for their box-office names like Stephen O’Neill, Peter Canavan, who is on the substitutes bench, and Owen Mulligan. Seán Cavanagh is formidable in this respect. He invariably gets himself free and carries ball powerfully. To counter this I expect the Dubs to put Shane Ryan on him and look to track the Tyrone man and negate his influence with Ciarán Whelan picking up Conor Gormley.

O’Neill is having a "Player-of-the-Year" season. There are a couple of ways to try to curb his influence. The first is to contest ball further out and put the man in possession under pressure so as to deny him the opportunity of putting in good quality ball to O’Neill. The other is for his marker to get out in front. If O’Neill gets ball in his hands then it is too late.

I would expect him to be picked up by Paul Griffin and not Paddy Christie. Griffin is usually handed the man-marking duties on the opposition’s chief scoring threat. If he does the job well then Dublin will be well down the road to winning. He’ll need some help from those further up the pitch because if Tyrone have time to pick their passes then the Dublin defence will be in trouble.

Free-taking will be crucial. O’Neill (from the right) and Canavan (from the left, when he comes on) won’t miss too many while Quinn, whose has shown great character to kick the more difficult ones, can’t afford to slip up with some easier chances as he has been prone to do.

The Dubs need to up their scoring percentage: Tyrone will score more from fewer opportunities.

The Dublin defence and midfield have performed extremely well this season and they have shown a resilience in tight finishes that hasn’t been there in the past. They have momentum going into this match and provided their forwards can up their individual and collective contributions I can see them edging home by the narrowest of margins.