On that occasion Donegal registered four points from play in the entire 70 minutes. Dublin mustered just two.

Dublin’s first score from play sailed between the uprights from Kevin McManamon’s boot in the 61st minute of play.

It was an atrocious spectacle; one most football fans would rather avoid enduring again. The Game from Hell II holds little appeal for the masses – it is however very much on the cards as the winners of the last three All-Ireland’s square up to each other again at Croke Park for a shot at Kerry in the final.

Two things have changed however since that encounter. Firstly, Donegal – while improved since last season – have regressed from the All-Ireland winning season of 2012.

Mark McHugh, a vital cog of Jim McGuinness’s side has departed, as has Ryan Bradley. Colm McFadden is struggling badly for form having been the clinical tip of the Donegal attack in 2012.

Donegal’s best player spends much of his time toiling around midfield rather than the edge of the square such are his qualities; such is his importance to this team. You’d imagine Rory O’Carroll is pretty thankful for that too – at full forward, Michael Murphy could be lethal.

Were McGuinness to release Murphy further forward – either from the off or if they’re still in the game after 50 or so minutes – it wouldn’t be a huge surprise though. Unless McFadden has re-discovered his scoring touch it’s hard to see where Donegal will get the scores to beat Dublin, even if they manage to suffocate their opponents as they did it 2011.

The second thing that has changed since that game – which Dublin won, incidentally – is that the Dubs have come on leaps and bounds. Never has a defending champion’s march towards another title looked so assured.

Racking up an average score of 2-23 per game is no mean feat, even if none of their opposition to date has been elite.

Laois, Wexford, Meath and Monaghan have all fallen foul this year to the fluidity and strength of the attacking machine Jim Gavin has built.

The defeat of Monaghan must be of greatest concern to Jim McGuinness given that both sides employ similar game-plans. A 17-point losing margin is hardly a ringing endorsement of those tactics as a way of prevailing over Gavin’s charges.

The suspicion remains that to beat Dublin, a duel is required much like the one they squeezed through last year in the semi-final against Kerry. Even at that, Dublin remain favourites to come out on top but a top team having a go offers a better chance of victory than trying to contain the champions’ attacking talents. They are, seemingly, uncontainable.

For McGuinness’s men to have any chance they’ll have to pare eight points off the Dubs’ average score to where their own average stands. Then they have to register 1-15 of their own against the best team in the country with a misfiring star forward.

It seems unlikely.

Still, if anyone can mastermind such a feat you’d imagine the Donegal manager is the guy to do it. His aura is like that of José Mourinho. His tactics aren’t dissimilar either. It’s park the bus or bust for Donegal tomorrow.

Football fans will hope for a more entertaining game than the last time these two met. Dublin will endeavour to make it so. McGuinness and Donegal won’t care. This is their best chance of victory and that, after all, is the task today.

Dublin: Stephen Cluxton; Michael Fitzsimons, Rory O'Carroll, Philly McMahon; James McCarthy,

Jonny Cooper, Nicky Devereux; Michael Darragh Macauley, Cian O'Sullivan; Paul Flynn, Kevin

McManamon, Diarmuid Connolly; Alan Brogan, Eoghan O'Gara, Bernard Brogan.

Donegal: TBC