Losing an All-Ireland is traumatic enough without the feeling that everyone's delighted with your setback. Kildare's defeat by Galway two years ago was not alone greeted as a great breakthrough for Connacht football, without an All-Ireland for 32 years, but also as a victory for football itself.

There's no doubt that Galway's attacking style is more attractive than Kildare's, but the public acclamation of the fact gives the Leinster champions a very specific motivation going into tomorrow's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland football semi-final. Resentment has recently surfaced again, with Mick O'Dwyer taking umbrage at criticism of the quality of the football in his team's matches this summer.

Whatever about quality, Kildare's performances have been very effective, and they have done much to answer the two most persistent questions traditionally asked about the team.

Whereas the allegation of bottling big matches was effectively laid to rest two years ago with victories over the three previous champions, the charge of sub-standard forwards has lingered.

Yet, in their very competitive schedule this championship - over five matches, each more gruelling than anything Galway faced - Kildare averaged over 15 points.

The 1998 All-Ireland is an obvious benchmark for tomorrow's match. Compared with the events of two years ago, Galway have had a less satisfactory campaign and Kildare a more rewarding one.

Whereas the Leinster champions have come through a campaign during which they showed great composure and survived matches they might have lost, Galway have breezed to the Connacht title without a test.

Two years ago Kildare struggled to win matches in which they had been clearly better and Galway had a major fight to get out of the west. In fact, it was the accepted view in the county that the replayed provincial final against Roscommon had been the making of the team.

Before that, they had won a significant first-round match against Mayo, the beaten All-Ireland finalists in the previous two years. This year, the programme was New York, Sligo and Leitrim, and a campaign with an average winning margin of 12 points.

So Galway aren't as well-seasoned as they were two years ago; but the matter is graver than that. The absence of Jarlath Fallon through injury and the loss of the retired Tomas Mannion means that Galway are missing two of the crucial influences on their All-Ireland success.

In addition, both John Divilly and Kevin Walsh will start tomorrow on the bench. Divilly and Walsh were also significant influences on the All-Ireland final success, and replacing four key players is a headache for manager John O'Mahony.

In the team's favour is the discovery of the talented Joe Bergin, but even the renewed form of Michael Donnellan doesn't bring anything to the party that wasn't there two years ago.

Bergin, Divilly and Walsh dovetail nicely into one significant worry for Galway: the lack of physical presence in the middle. Bergin's talent is on the ball, not in the engine room.

Sean O Domhnaill does bring substance, but it was Walsh who exploited Martin McNamara's clever kick-outs two years ago.

Without Divilly, the Galway half-back line is quite slight for a unit required to cope with the rampaging Willie McCreery and the Kildare half backs. Divilly and Walsh may make an appearance at some stage, but they are short match fitness.

Galway's best chance lies in O'Mahony's tactical acumen and their strength up front. It won't have escaped the Galway manager that Kildare have had significant down-periods in their matches to date. None of their opponents - with the partial exception of Dublin in the Leinster final replay - have exploited this.

Kildare's big gain from wiping out the half-time deficit against Dublin as quickly as they did was that it allowed them resume their normal game of sitting back and crowding defence. Had the lead survived, they would have been forced to come forward and leave some space at the back.

If Galway can get decent ball into their full forwards, Kildare will be in trouble because the Connacht champions will make it count. Donnellan's pace will trouble Glen Ryan but, unless the ball comes in early, Kildare will ensure that there is little space for him to exploit.

At the other end, Galway's defence is relatively untested this year, but RTE analyst Martin Carney has pointed out that Leitrim caused some difficulties in the Connacht final by running at the champions' defence.

Given that running at Galway's defence is what Kildare will do more than anything else, changes may be needed sooner rather than later. The Leinster champions have improved their starting line-up with the introduction of the recovered Karl O'Dywer and Brian Murphy.

If Galway click, their strengths are sufficient to bring into play their forward superiority. But the evidence of the championship to date is that Kildare have been more tempered in action and should drive home that advantage.