WHERE were you in '82? We'll hazard a guess that the majority of Dublin fans who ventured in fretful hope to Killarney yesterday weren't in Tralee over 27 years ago. But most of them, for sure, were in Croke Park six months ago.

That's why yesterday's Allianz Football League opener at Fitzgerald Stadium was a sweet occasion for the travelling Boys in Blue -- and maybe for Pat Gilroy, too, even though the Dublin manager was publicly quick to dismiss any rash talk of historic milestones for his young team.

The last time Dublin won on Kerry soil was in November '82. The following September Sam returned to the Hill. Don't book the open-top buses just yet, though, would be a fair synopsis of Gilroy's post-match message.

The last time Dublin met Kerry -- as if you've forgotten -- resulted in 17-point carnage. Yesterday witnessed a 19-point turnaround, as the supposedly callow visitors battled as if their lives (or at least their inter-county futures) depended on it. Does it level the score or erase history? Of course not. But it does rank as a hugely promising start -- albeit this frenetic contest at times resembled Saturday's rival code on show at Croker.

Ultimately, Dublin won a majority of the battles -- even at George Hook's beloved breakdown -- and then rode their luck over the home straight to record a fully deserved 1-12 to 1-10 win.

Many commentators had predicted a grim spring for the capital's rookie brigade. Ergo, a brace of unlikely points is the perfect Division One kickstart, even though Gilroy afterwards insisted: "I don't think the results really matter here at this time of year. It's about seeing how young guys can acquit themselves at this level. And there were a lot of good Kerry players playing today, so you could really see who was able for this level."

Next up, Derry in Parnell Park. Last year Damien Cassidy's Oak Leaf marauders made mince meat of the Dubs in Donnycarney. And last Saturday they too enjoyed a stellar league start with a six-point win over Tyrone. Best then, surely, to reserve early-season judgement until after next Saturday.

"There's no point in doing this and then next week playing brutal," Gilroy surmised. "Results, well, if they go our way, great. Like, even if we had lost that game at the end it would have been a good performance, so I wouldn't have been losing any sleep over it."

He expanded: "We need to perform all the time like that. We need to get a consistency in what we're doing and not to have these big flash games and then a poor game ... that's been the problem for us. We put great performances into the championship, followed by terrible ones."

Gilroy was adamant that last year's quarter-final meltdown was history and had "absolutely" no bearing on Dublin's mindset going into the game. Most of the players weren't even involved, he pointed out. Still, there was something refreshingly gung-ho about Dublin's attitude that suggested there would be no collective cave-in this time.

From the first whistle, when Eamon Fennell played a slick one-two and burst through the middle to blast over -- eschewing a possible goal chance -- there was early evidence that Dublin were up for it. Evidence, too, that a Kerry rearguard devoid of the ó Sé brothers, Tom O'Sullivan and Mike McCarthy was ripe for the plucking.

This defensive vulnerability would manifest itself several times in a first half that ended with Dublin, playing against the breeze, 1-6 to 0-6 ahead. Kevin McManamon was first to every ball and, thereafter, time and again showed Pádraig Reidy a clean pair of heels.

Michael MacAuley -- a midfielder according to his club CV -- also proved himself a quick learner in his new centre-forward brief. Aidan O'Mahony, with a chance to re-establish his claims on the Kerry No 6 jersey, found himself on the back foot all too often against Dublin's debutant No 11.

By the final whistle we had clocked up 1-6 in assists against MacAuley's name -- not to mention the game's insurance point at the death when, just as Seamus Scanlon tried to launch one last Kerry salvo from deep, the Ballyboden man intercepted and hared away for the fisted coup de grace.

Scanlon was but a pale shadow of his '09 All Star self. Alongside, Micheal Quirke found the going even tougher, his lack of mobility highlighted by those penetrative first- half incursions of his direct opponent, Fennell.

For all that, Kerry hung onto Dublin coattails for most of the first half -- primarily through the efforts of Paul Galvin, who had struck three of his four points by the midpoint.

Then the home defence was cut open twice in a minute. MacAuley's inviting knockdown released Paul Flynn in oceans of space for his 33rd-minute goal, finished with a low flourish; when the same pair combined straight after, Flynn was content to take his point.

Flynn was again first to strike as the third quarter continued in the same vein. By the 48th minute Dublin had doubled their cushion to six.

Even when the All-Ireland champions belatedly stirred themselves, they were undermined by a mixture of most un-Kerry-like fumbling and the incessant tackling of the Dubs.

True, the latter's commitment strayed into foul territory with mounting last-quarter frequency, prompting Gilroy to remark: "We thought we were doing the right thing, so I was a bit disappointed we gave away so many ... it's something that we need to work on."

The increasingly frustrated Kieran Donaghy won his fair share of modh direach delivery but usually, on returning to earth, found his path blocked by a whole phalanx of Sky Blue jerseys. Rory O'Carroll stuck doggedly to the Star, by fair means or foul, while Dublin's packed defence invariably included the world's deepest-lying 'corner-forward', David Henry.

For all that, and Kerry's own limitations, a handful of late goal chances were created and mostly spurned. The Dublin goal-line somehow survived one madcap goalmouth scramble; then Donaghy brilliantly teed up Declan O'Sullivan who, on the stretch, contrived to slice wide; then Galvin, taking aim for the top corner, arrowed inches over.

Finally, 90 seconds into injury-time, Killian Young rifled over a rasping low cross that would have graced Wembley, and Barry John Walsh capitalised at the far post. Their lead suddenly reduced to a point, Dublin now faced the underwhelming prospect of another draw-snatched-from-the-jaws-of-victory (à la Kerry in Parnell Park last March).

Only this time they closed the deal. Time will tell just how big a deal this was.

- Frank Roche