Dublin have it all to do against champions

Women's football All-Ireland Semi-finalsDublin swept past Tyrone in emphatic style in Croke Park in the quarter-final to set up this pivotal head-to-head against the reigning champions and their conquerors in last year's final.

Galway have maintained brilliant form over the past year and if anything are even more formidable than in 2004.

The scoring has been well distributed among the forwards, but Niamh Fahey has been proving a phenomenal talent.

Last year's captain Annette Clarke is fit to start and Aoibheann Daly has been leading a very strong-looking back line.

Dublin have totally revamped their team this year under manager John O'Leary, with the likes of Louise Kidd, Avril Cluxton and Joanne O'Sullivan all new introductions.

The return to form of forward Louise Kelly has also made a difference, while Angie McNally starts after struggling to nail down a place in the team so far.

Dublin are resilient and are desperate for All-Ireland glory after the devastation of the last two years, but if Galway play to potential then that should be enough to see them through.

Cork go into their semi-final as favourites despite the fact they are hoping to reach their first All-Ireland final and face a Mayo team that have dominated the game in recent years - appearing in five of the last six finals.

Yet Cork's favouritism is well founded. They have dominated women's football at underage level while Donoughmore have won the All-Ireland club title twice in the last two years.

They are also the current National League winners and easily retained the Munster title this year.

Still, this is the time of reckoning for Cork as the team has now come of age.

There were of course high hopes last year but Mayo swept past them at the quarter-final stage.

They will be depending on quality ball going into their dynamic forwards Aisling O'Connor, Ger O'Flynn and particularly Valerie Mulcahy.

Mayo are still blessed with great natural talent and boast the game's most dangerous forward in Cora Staunton - but the time now appears to be ripe for Cork to deliver on their great promise.

GALWAY: U Carroll; M Glynn, R Stephens, E Flaherty; M O'Connell, A Daly, R McPhilbin; A Clarke, P Gleeson; E Concannon, N Duggan, P Ní Fhlatharta; G Conneely, N Fahey, L Joyce.

DUBLIN: C O'Connor; L Kidd, A Cluxton, L Keegan; J O'Sullivan, D Masterson, G Fay; N McEvoy, M Farrell; N Hurley, B Finlay, L Davey; S Aherne, A McNally, L Kelly.

CORK: E Harte; N Keohane, A Walsh, R Buckley; B Corkery, C Walsh, S O'Reilly; J Murphy, N Kelly; A Murphy, R Curtin, G O'Flynn; V Mulcahy, C Creedon, A O'Connor.

MAYO: L Connolly; N O'Shea, H Lohan, S McGing; H Jordan, C O'Hara, MT Garvey; C Egan, S Tyrell; M Heffernan, C Heffernan, K Colleran; M Carter, E Mullen, C Staunton.