Tomorrow's Bank of Ireland Leinster football championship replay presents both teams with the possibility of improving and demonstrating that the last day's dismal proceedings were an aberration. But it also presents Dublin and Kildare with the grim vista of irreversible decline if they cannot improve.

Precedent favours Dublin. They have in the past overcome a poor performance in a drawn match to set the record straight. Kildare have never made good their omissions in a replay.

Yet such was the poverty of the drawn match that it's impossible to feel upbeat about either side. How much more possession will Kildare need to actually win a match. How much improvement can Dublin show with a team inhibited by chronic injury and no evidence of being able to stick to a gameplan.

In the circumstances, nominating either team is a leap of faith and faith can be difficult to rationalise. Dublin have made more changes, altering midfield and the two back lines. There could well be improvement, mainly on the grounds that disimprovement would be so hard to achieve.

It is a slight surprise that Mick Deegan gets the corner back slot given all those horrid memories of six and seven years ago. Eamonn Heery comes onto the team at wing back and the overall effect will probably strengthen the defence.

Paul Bealin is unlucky to be dropped from midfield as he wasn't worse than most of the others. It will be a major test of Dermot Harrington to play in this sector against Niall Buckley and Willie McCreery, whose mobility caused Dublin such problems the last day.

Yet it was up front that the team suffered most. The quality of ball into the forwards was terrible but, apart from Jim Gavin and Dessie Farrell, there was little initiative shown. Kildare's problems are the perennial ones of not being able to get anything like a decent exchange rate for the amount of ball they win. They weren't helped by refereeing decisions which denied them a penalty but most of the wastage was their own.

The feeling that Dublin may win it is based on the old rule of replays, that they have more room for improvement even though even that assumption is open to question. There is more potential in the Dublin attack.

Dublin: D Byrne; M Deegan, P Christie, M Deegan; P Curran, C Barr, E Heery; B Stynes, D Harrington; C Whelan, J Gavin, I Robertson; D Farrell (capt.), D Darcy, J Sherlock. Kildare: C Byrne; B Lacey, R Quinn, K Doyle; J Finn, G Ryan (capt.), A Rainbow; N Buckley, W McCreery; E McCormack, D Kerrigan, D Earley; M Lynch, K O'Dwyer, P Graven.