Seldom has there been a final between two such estranged counties. Tomorrow's climax to the Bank of Ireland All-Ireland football championship at Croke Park brings together finalists who haven't met competitively for nine years.

Judged on the obvious criterion of progress to the final, Kildare have a distinct edge. Scalping the three most recent All-Ireland champions is an achievement which only Derry, in 1993, have managed in the last 30 years.

Furthermore, in terms of the hard road, Kildare are the oldest and meanest dogs in town. Eight years of losing their grip on vital championship matches - to teams of varying merit -have left a mark and they will be as difficult to psych out of it as the Meath team of 10 years ago who, having endured years of being kicked around the yard, arrived at a similarly mature age.

Yet Galway have much on their side. It's not as obvious because their progress to the final was relatively low-key and against largely unimpressive opposition. Neither have they suffered many setbacks as a team. The current management set-up is in its first year.

They have developed as a team. After a harder opening to their campaign than Kildare, who had to put up with a feeble Dublin challenge, Galway lost momentum in a pushover against an overwhelmed Leitrim and were fortunate not to be ambushed by a big, determined Roscommon in the drawn Connacht final.

Alarming as it was that such resistance was coming from a Division Four team, it tested Galway's nerve and the nerve held. If the All-Ireland semi-final win over Derry was notable for positive aspects - as opposed to the dire incompetence of the Ulster champions - it showed that the westerners have verve as well as nerve.

Using the full pitch, Galway produced as compelling a display of forward play as we've seen all summer. Both in its conception and execution (16 points, eight from play and only three wides, none of which was from play) it was breath-taking.

Pessimists will say that the trouble against Roscommon was caused by the attentions of a tight-marking defence and that Kildare will provide double that sort of cover, but optimists can point to the assurance of the team in Croke Park a month ago. Galway are now liberated from the provincial championship and inspired by the diminished pressure which comes from being available at better than 2 to 1.

That crazy distortion between the counties hides another interesting and potentially significant point. Kildare have already made the history books with their Leinster win whereas Galway haven't yet achieved anything of note. No one in the county is likely to be impressed by getting this far - the final is a chamber of horrors in the memory of Galway football folk.

Moral victory (i.e. defeat) won't cut any ice either. Mayo have supplied Connacht with enough such victories for a generation. If this actually is a new dawn for Galway and the west, the first shafts of light were visible last March when Corofin, playing a fast and skilful brand of football, took the All-Ireland club title without any fuss.

In that example lies the way forward. Despite the weight of history (no Connacht club had won the title before), Corofin showed that there is no mystery to these things. Play well enough and you'll generally win.

Galway may not have their opponents' experience but several of the team are not exactly in the first flush of youth. Tomas Mannion and Kevin Walsh are survivors of the county's last minor win, in 1986, whereas five others - Tomas Meehan, John Divilly, Michael Donnellan, Derek Savage and Padraig Joyce - contested the minor All-Ireland four years ago.

Another misconception concerns the size of the teams. Despite the identikit image of Galway being made up of Derek Savages, the Connacht players have a height advantage in nine positions compared to Kildare's three.

There are a number of reasons why Galway are favoured to win. Their attack is better than Kildare's and forwards have a better history of winning All-Irelands than defences. Jarlath Fallon at centre forward will have a crucial role for Galway, either reigning in Glen Ryan's influence up the field or kicking points in the spaces the Kildare captain can leave behind him.

Kildare's full backs may improvise to deal with the threat of pace but Brian Lacey, even if he moves off Niall Finnegan, can cover only one of the positions. The Leinster champions still take too much out of the ball and still require disproportionate possession for their margins of victory.

Derry's difficulties against Galway in the semi-final were partly self-created but the failure of their absurdly elaborate short-passing game also stemmed from the speedy shut-down achieved by Galway's forwards, who marked man and space efficiently. Given Kildare's preference for the same sort of game, albeit more stylishly effected, they may find themselves in difficulty.

Should the ball be moved this slowly from the back, Galway will simply pull everyone back and crowd the middle, leaving inviting space for Savage and Joyce when the ball breaks down.

Centrefield in these circumstances won't matter as much. Kildare's pairing of Niall Buckley and Willie McCreery hasn't been infallible this year and Dermot Earley on the wing has been the team's best fielder. But Kevin Walsh and Sean O Domhnaill have a big height advantage which, in constricted circumstances, makes broken ball a certainty.

Here both teams have snappy half-lines but Galway would benefit because it's the game which comes most easily to their half-backs. Centre back John Divilly will be happier with Declan Kerrigan's mobility than he would be if Buckley were to be switched on to him. Similarly, behind him Gary Fahy will find Karl Dwyer's deep-lying game more comforting than some livewire hovering on the edge of the square.

Galway's players also have more flexibility and will adapt better than Meath or Kerry managed if they find the match going Kildare's way. Three years ago, when Bosco McDermott was in charge of them, they came to Croke Park as a direct team and short-passed a bewildered Tyrone out of it for long periods before narrowly losing.

Their situation mirrors that of two recent All-Ireland champions. Down didn't come up the hard way in 1991. But they brought a great set of forwards to Croke Park, hit form and nearly destroyed Meath in the final. Galway's attack mightn't appear in the same class as Blaney, Linden and McCartan but they are young and share some of the same characteristics: a footballing centre forward in Fallon and great pace in Savage, Joyce and Donnellan, whose searching runs are such an important part of Galway's weaponry.

Two years ago, Meath came into the final with five under-21s on the team and won out after a replay with Mayo. Young players tend to have fewer inhibitions on the big occasion.

Referee John Bannon will have a major role to play. His rigorous enforcement of the rules in the semi-final gave Galway a great start, as Derry's early fouls were punished by Joyce's digitally precise free-kicking. Kildare won't foul nearly as much and with Padraig Gravin's accuracy, they won't mind Bannon's severity.

Nonetheless, forwards win All-Irelands and Galway are better provided for in that regard. After the semi-final, John O'Mahony expressed a dual desire for so quiet a build-up to the final that Galway would have it won before anyone noticed them. No one escapes the hype but he's on course for the rest of it.