1. Joe Canning
There’s no show like the Joe show in Galway but the Tribesmen really need Canning to step up to the plate this summer.
One of the most gifted players of his generation is running the risk of finishing his career without an All-Ireland senior hurling medal as the years slowly tick by.
Canning is Galway’s ‘go-to’ man up front but an accusation often levelled at the Portumna superstar is that he can disappear from big games when they are really in the melting pot.
But there’s no doubting Canning’s immense talent and the 26-year-old forward could also do with some real support around him up front.
Manager Anthony Cunningham must also settle on a settled position for Canning, who has drifted between the half and full-forward lines in recent seasons.
2. League form
Going on Allianz League League form, not much will separate these two sides.
Waterford beat Galway by eight points in the quarter-finals and then saw off a Cork side, who had edged past Dublin, by ten.
Following that strict line of form, a couple of points either way looks like the most likely winning margin at GAA HQ.
When Galway and Dublin met in the League, at Parnell Park in March, Dublin ran out six-point winners.
Canning hit 1-7 for the visiting Tribesmen but Dublin had a ten-point haul from David Treacy.
3. Mark Schutte
Schutte enjoyed a brilliant end to the League season, emerging as another scoring forward that Dublin badly needed.
The Cuala hitman hit five points against Galway and added 1-5 in the impressive Croke Park victory over Limerick.
Schutte followed that up with another 1-3 in the League semi-final defeat to Cork, taking his tally to 2-13 from just three matches.
Schutte netted this cracking goal against the Rebels at Nowlan Park (go to 27 seconds):
Paul Ryan, Liam Rushe, David O’Callaghan and Treacy are other forwards with a keen eye for goal and Dublin’s forward mix looks like a potent one.
The challenge now for Schutte and his attacking colleagues is to carry Spring promise into the white heat of championship, when it matters most.
4. The Cunninghams
Galway boss Anthony Cunningham is a man under pressure and while his continued presence at the helm brings a degree of continuity, the Westerners have flattered to deceive in championship hurling since contesting the 2012 All-Ireland final.
Galway have bowed out with barely a whimper in their last two championship campaigns and they blew a six-point lead in the final 20 minutes against Tipperary at Semple Stadium last year, losing that game by nine points.
Cunningham’s charges are the archetypal Jekyll and Hyde championship team. In blunt terms, they can be very good or painfully ordinary.
For Dublin boss Ger Cunningham, it’s been an encouraging season and by the time Sunday rolls around, the Sky Blues should have shaken off the disappointment of coughing up a 12-point lead against Cork in the League semi-final.
Dublin were Leinster champions as recently as 2013 and have the better recent provincial pedigree.
5. The Croke Park factor
This is Galway’s first championship outing at Croke Park since the 2013 Leinster final but Dublin are more familiar with the place, having played Limerick at GAA HQ as recently as March.
Both teams will enjoy the wide open spaces but Dublin look better equipped to make home advantage count.
There’s a really uncertain feel about Galway, perhaps not surprising as they haven’t played a competitive game since the League quarter-final loss to Waterford in March.
Dublin got an extra 70 minutes under their belts against Cork and scored an encouraging victory against an admittedly understrength Tipperary in a recent challenge match at the Upperchurch-Drombane GAA grounds.
Galway need to produce the kind of form at Croke Park that we haven’t seen from them since the drawn 2012 All-Ireland final against Kilkenny, although they did beat Dublin at GAA HQ at the start of the year in the Walsh Cup final.
You have to go back to the All-Ireland semi-final victory over Cork in 2012 for Galway’s last championship victory at the Drumcondra venue.
6. Niall McMorrow’s absence
McMorrow made a big impact for Dublin in the concluding stages of the Allianz League campaign, after coming on as sub to impress against Galway.
He scored two points in the impressive quarter-final victory over Limerick at Croke Park and lined out alongside Johnny McCaffrey at midfield in the semi-final defeat against Cork.
But McMorrow will play no in the Galway game and possibly beyond in the provincial championship after sustaining a thumb injury in training a few weeks ago.
Dublin could have a ready-made replacement in Darragh O’Connell, however.
Kerry’s former Christy Ring Cup winner made his Dublin senior debut in a recent challenge outing against Tipperary and scored two points from midfield.
Current Kerry boss Eamonn Kelly believes that O’Connell is good enough to make any intercounty team in the country.
