Cork powerhouse Pearse O'Neill has described Dublin's transformation into All-Ireland contenders as "unbelievable".

Humbled by Meath at the end of June, the Dubs have resurrected their season in the backdoor series and only the Rebels now stand between them and a return to the All-Ireland final for the first time since 1995.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final, O'Neill said: "They have improved unbelievably. At the start of the summer they were drawing with Wexford and losing to Meath. Now they're beating Louth, Armagh and Tyrone. Armagh and Tyrone would consider themselves All-Ireland contenders and Louth were going very well this year. I've been impressed with them."

He added: "They set up very defensively, they filter bodies back and then when they turn you over, they attack at pace. You don't see many fellas running through the Dublin defence. Tyrone hit a lot of wides but a lot of those were under pressure. They weren't kicking wides from 20 yards out in front of goals, they were from out in the corner. "Nearly all teams do that now, they set themselves defensively and try to defend as a unit and attack as a unit.

"I would agree that Dublin really emphasise the defensive aspect of it and make it very difficult to score - they're certainly very good at that."

With Kerry and Tyrone having exited the All-Ireland race, the big centre forward doesn't subscribe to the view that Cork are now favourites to lift Sam Maguire.

"If Kerry and Tyrone are gone, and they are perceived to be two of the best teams in the country, the teams that beat them have obviously stepped up and are two of the best teams in the country.

"There's a perception that there's a 'big three' or 'big four' or whatever it is, but it's not like that - any team can beat another on their day. You can only take it one game at a time. If you start skipping games in your mind, that's when you're going to get beaten."

O'Neill admits it will be daunting for Cork to play in front of over 50,000 Dublin supporters at Croke Park.

"We have had some good days there but we haven't played in front of such a partisan crowd as we'll get against Dublin," he said.

"That's going to be something different. But we have played up there a good few times now so we'll just have to blot that out and drive it on." Tweet

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