It was the day Kieran Donaghy was first tried out at full-forward by Jack O’Connor and the big Tralee man turned out to be pretty useful on the edge of the square.

Three goals ultimately stood between the teams and Mulligan winces at that fact because Eoin Brosnan helped himself to three goals that day.

Mulligan was a half-back, Brosnan a half-forward and the local Dr Crokes man left Fitzgerald Stadium clutching the match ball for the short journey home.

Now 13 years on, the pair will see each other again today in Thurles though whether they’re in direct combat remains to be seen as veteran Brosnan counts down his playing days.

“It was a huge occasion,” said Mulligan, recalling the 2006 game that began Kerry’s turnaround that summer.

Colm Cooper scored the other Kerry goal that afternoon. It’s more likely Mulligan will engage him at some stage today though Cooper isn’t a guaranteed starter having also been held in reserve lately.

“We’ll give him a game no problem, we’ll give him a run if he wants to make a move up to Longford,” smiled Mulligan. “I’m sure we’d find somewhere to slot him in.”

That, in a nutshell, is what separates the two clubs vying for a place in the All-Ireland final, the sense that one is maxing out its meagre resources while the other is struggling to arrange its galaxy of stars.

“The Gooch, one of the best players possibly to have ever played Gaelic football, it shows the strength and the depth of the talent they have,” said Mulligan. We understand that, we realise that. But we also realise that there is a lot of talent in our own dressing-room. That’s what we’re concentrating on.”

Perhaps it would be more helpful to remind Mulligan of Longford’s win over Kerry in the 2004 National League, Jack O’Connor’s first game in charge.

Brosnan was playing that day too but Kerry couldn’t match the energy and efficiency of a Longford side that scored its first win over the Kingdom in 31 years.

They won’t need to reach for the history books if Mullinalaghta, the smallest club in Longford from the tiny half-parish pressed hard against the Cavan border, wins today; no Longford club has ever got this far.

Mulligan reckons the long gap between the historic Leinster final win over Kilmacud Crokes and this weekend may have actually helped their cause.

“The gap has probably played to our advantage in that with everything that went on after the Leinster final and the coverage we got for the week or two afterwards, it swallowed up all our time,” said Mulligan.

“Christmas time was a stop to it and then by January lads were just mad to get back to training. We were happy to get back at it and to get the heads down and to focus. It’s been a good break. It’s probably dragging on a little bit at this stage but we’re almost there now. We feel we’ve had a good January, we’re moving well and training has been going good so we’re looking forward to it.”

If they could stop the clocks and somehow freeze time, they might just do so in Longford.

Their county team is top of Division 3, eyeing promotion, and their flagship club side is two games from All-Ireland success. The fear is that things may slide downhill from here, for both teams.

“I think it can only be a positive thing for Longford football to be competing at this level,” said Mulligan. “You’re in an All-Ireland semi-final with Donegal, Kerry and Galway teams. Longford don’t play at that level at inter-county so it’s great to see it happening at club level.

“A number of our lads will return to the Longford setup when the club finishes up and the experience they’ll have gained on the Leinster campaign and in the All-Ireland series can only be a good thing.”

Mullinalaghta manager Mickey Graham is also coming up against Kerry opposition again. He managed Cavan two weeks ago in the Allianz League and they led Peter Keane’s side by four points at half-time before losing narrowly. Offer Mulligan a similar gutsy defeat and he understandably baulks at it.

“We’ve always been the underdogs, even within the Longford championship we’re underdogs because we come from such a small place and have such a small panel of players,” he said.

“So we’ve always had that tag. It’s something we’re used to and we don’t read anything into it as such.

We’re not underestimating the task at hand with Dr Crokes. But if it was Kimacud versus Dr Crokes, it wouldn’t be looked on as such a foregone conclusion.