This afternoon in Tuam Stadium (3 p.m.) Galway host Dublin in a Church & General National Football League Division 1A fixture brought forward from next weekend. It is crucial for both sides and should attract a reasonable crowd even allowing for the Bank Holiday weekend.

Almost exactly 12 months ago, the teams gave an excellent display in Parnell Park which finished all square courtesy of a Declan Darcy sideline kick in injury time. Each side is considerably changed since then with Na Fianna's players obviously ruled out after yesterday's All-Ireland club final.

At the moment, Dublin are more in need of a boost than Galway.

John O'Mahony is fairly sure of his best team and can feel happy that he has uncovered a couple of new contenders, in particular the hugely promising Joe Bergin. A win today and Galway are nearly in the semi-finals which will enable the management to fine-tune for the championship.

Dublin on the other hand have had a mixed campaign. Hard to beat at home, they have travelled badly. The win over Donegal was in an undistinguished match against lightweight opponents. Time is running out for the settling of obvious questions.

Is the defence good enough for championship? What's preventing the attack from clicking as a unit? This concern intensifies concern about how Dessie Farrell will recover from an arduous club championship.

Dublin could do with a convincing run in the league. Even though they reached the final last year, they rarely managed two good performances back-to-back. Such a scenario requires a win today and on the face of it, that's unlikely.