Galway v Kerry, Croke Park, Sunday/Live on Network 2, 4.15: A lot has happened since Galway's sweep through Connacht five weeks ago. After a seemingly interminable series of qualifiers, the championship has been pared down to bare essentials and the governing story of the period has been the Kerry revival, writes Keith Duggan

It is a great credit to the Páidí Ó Sé management team that they have, in a phenomenally short space of time, transformed their lot from a jaded, post-All-Ireland entity to a menacing and dynamic side with the brightest of futures.

The common opinion is that the momentum generated by masterful wins against Fermanagh and Kildare has made Kerry an irresistible force. And waiting on the runway with the engines revving for over a month will have done Galway no good.

But while Kerry's regeneration has been noticeable, there have been no signs of a Galway decline. That the All-Ireland champions were not at their most sumptuous at any point in the provincial campaign only means so much. A feature of John O'Mahony's teams is that they have been able to perform as befits the occasion.

There are two ways to look at Kerry's advancement. Either they were on a different plane to the opposition, or Fermanagh imploded and Kildare were spiritually and physically spent in Thurles. The truth may be somewhere in between.

In any case, Galway represent a different class of opposition. They have a solid and settled defence, with the perpetually-busy Michael Donnellan chasing back. Kevin Walsh is enjoying an injury-free season and remains a phenomenally important leader of this team. And in Padhraic Joyce, Derek Savage and the Clancys, they possess an attack that arguably shades the riches of what has been a delightful Kerry formation.

Galway have their worries, though. Donnellan has yet to recapture the omnipotence he regularly called upon in 2000, when the teams last met. Similarly, Ja Fallon has been a man searching for the game within himself. There are predictions that the extended Croke Park dimensions won't suit Walsh but these are exaggerated. Walsh was always a stay-at-home midfielder anyway. Now, he will just stay at home in a bigger house.

Kerry will test these shortcomings severely. Dara Ó Sé is the form midfielder going into this match and Donal Daly has had a second lease of life. They too have a hustling, steady defence and mouth-wateringly good forwards such as Eoin Brosnan and Liam Hassett.

But it is at Croke Park and not sedate country venues that they will have to exorcise the memory of last year's collapse against Meath. This is a stiff test. Mike Frank Russell's quiet season has been glossed over by the Cooper kid but there is the sense that if Kerry's beautiful attack stalls it will take a lot of mechanics to get it going again. And Kerry is a team of medium experience. This is a match that may have arrived one month too soon on their heady learning curve.

If Galway arrive flat, then they will suffer. But to predict they will do so is to ignore their record over the last four years. And that would be foolhardy. The All-Ireland champions to even the score in what may be the game of the season.

KERRY (v Galway): D O'Keeffe; M Ó Sé, S Moynihan, M McCarthy; T Ó Sé, E Fitzmaurice, J Sheehan; D Ó Sé (capt), D Daly; S O'Sullivan, E Brosnan, L Hassett; MF Russell, D Ó Cinnéide, C Cooper.

GALWAY: A Keane; K Fitzgerald, G Fahey, R Fahey; D Meehan, T Mannion, S de Paor; K Walsh, M Donnellan; P Clancy, J Fallon, J Bergin; D Savage, P Joyce, M Clancy.