Leinster SFC final Dublin v Laois Croke Park, Sunday Throw-in: 3.45For all the trauma of the past two years Dublin have been a benchmark in Leinster football. With just one exception in 24 years the county has either won the provincial title or lost to the team that ultimately did. In more recent times Dublin have contested five of the past seven Leinster finals.

But that's making the best of it. In tomorrow's Bank of Ireland Leinster football final at a sold-out Croke Park, Dublin come up against the most talented panel in the province.

Not alone do Laois have a supply of fit, skilful footballers but they have also given the championship's best performance - the semi-final destruction of Kildare.

The weight of money may be on Dublin but on paper Laois look a better bet. Yet there's no doubting the improvement in Dublin under Paul Caffrey's management.

A spring campaign of grafting performances, including a couple of eked-out last-gasp wins, was a good indicator of the improvement in morale and self-confidence.

So far the championship has reinforced that impression with two of the three victories dug out in difficult circumstances against Meath and Wexford.

Dublin held the nerve against the former as the match went down to the wire and absorbed the reversal of fortune that saw Wexford recover from a poor start to lead in the second half.

Nonetheless, improved mental focus isn't the exclusive preserve of Dublin. Mick O'Dwyer, whose cheery utterances are generally as inscrutable as a sphinx, hasn't been slow to hint at the improvement wrought in his panel by the departure of certain personalities and their replacement by "new and younger players".

This weekend's Laois team is more in the mould of O'Dwyer than the side that won Leinster two years ago.

For all the poverty of the performance against Offaly in the first round, there was reason to admire the perseverance that put Laois within striking distance of their misfiring opponents and the clinical precision with which Ross Munnelly claimed the match.

Dublin wouldn't have let Laois off the hook in similar circumstances and certainly won't be giving their opponents' quicksilver attack the sort of space that Kildare, fatally hampered by lack of pace and mobility, surrendered.

Neither is it just a case of 'which Laois team will turn up?' because the side that won the semi-final was a different line-up. The restructured half forwards, with Barry Brennan and Billy Sheehan adding movement and accuracy, have complemented Munnelly's routine excellence.

Mentally O'Dwyer's team will prefer Dublin to Westmeath. A year ago Laois were hot favourites partly because Westmeath were underrated.

Dublin present a challenge in the face of which they can be casually considered underdogs, yet the spell which the Dubs used to cast has long been broken for a county that has amassed considerable underage success.

There are more tangible reasons why Laois should win.

Their forwards have been more accurate and better at finding space.

Dublin on the other hand over-depend on Alan Brogan's pace and work rate to create - and take - scoring chances.

Brogan has the artillery to put Tom Kelly on the back foot, which would also restrict Laois going forward, but if he is marked tightly there's not a range of alternatives to take the attacking fight to the opposition.

At centrefield Ciarán Whelan and Shane Ryan are still establishing themselves as a pairing and they will have plenty of work to do breaking ball off opponents who, Noel Garvan in particular, will dominate in the air if given a chance.

On the floor Dublin have a far better chance.

Whelan also needs to sublimate his ramped-up drive and aggression into ball winning rather than getting distracted in personal battles that run the risk - realised the last day - of reducing the team to 14.

Although two of Caffrey's big successes have been at the back - the redeployment of Barry Cahill as an accomplished stopper centre back and the introduction of Steve O'Shaughnessy as a rapidly improving corner back - there are still problems, including an uncertainty in the full-back line, where Paddy Christie's form has been less authoritative than usual and O'Shaughnessy's injured shoulder represents a worry.

One goal and 17 points was a reasonable haul for Dublin against Wexford but in the tighter confines of the Meath match, the team needed an awful lot of the game for a two-point win.

It's touch and go but Laois have shown both class and resilience to date and that's a tough combination to crack.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; P Griffin, P Christie, S O'Shaughnessy; P Casey, B Cahill, C Goggins; C Whelan, S Ryan; C Moran, A Brogan, B Cullen; J Sherlock, C Keaney, T Quinn.

LAOIS: F Byron; A Fennelly, D Rooney, J Higgins; C Begley, T Kelly, P McMahon; P Clancy, N Garvan; R Munnelly, B Brennan, B Sheehan; C Conway, K Fitzpatrick, B McDonald.

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).