Tomorrow's AIB All-Ireland club football semi-finals have that frequently treacherous, cut-anddried look. Castlehaven of Cork and Corofin of Galway are recidivists, having tried their luck at this stage within the last three years.

Maybe it's because this championship doesn't treat experience very kindly, or because neither appear to have made sufficiently convincing progress; but for whatever reason, their respective opponents, Erin's Isle of Dublin and Derry's Dungiven, have earned favourites' status.

The Dubliners' trip to Thurles revives memories of the progress of their predecessors, Kilmacud Crokes, to the 1995 title, which took them also to Semple Stadium to play Castlehaven. This is the Cork club's third semi-final and they have yet to make the final.

Three years ago, the equation was very simple: when all the outfield positions engaged, Kilmacud's more consistent quality in a competition which attaches great importance to how good a team's worst players are, prevailed.

Erin's Isle have more star quality than Kilmacud, but don't have the same monotonous dependability. Castlehaven have also improved, and the introduction of a couple of new players has helped. Colin Crowley's arrival as a central figure in attack has helped ease the pressure on Larry Tompkins, as was seen to great effect in the Munster final when the Cork manager, liberated by the attention Crowley commanded on the inside, had a fine afternoon, roving the pitch and calling the shots.

Yet the problem for the Cork side remains that much of their cutting edge still depends on Tompkins and fellow veteran John Cleary - and for the county campaign (which was finally lost to divisional side Beara), Niall Cahalane. Mention of the suspended Cahalane raises a crucial matter. Over the years he has been the team's driving force, arguably more influential than even Tompkins. For Castlehaven to take on a match of this magnitude without him makes their task even trickier than it would already be.

One area of obvious conflict will be on the Erin's Isle full forward line. As a trio, Ciaran O'Hare, Robbie Boyle and Niall Crossan have done a lot of damage since emerging into the Leinster championship. It's a strong combination, with O'Boyle's size, Crossan's pace and finish and O'Hare's reliability setting a difficult marking job for their opponents.

Around the middle of the pitch, the Dubliners are a hard-working outfit. Johnny and Keith Barr have been a solid midfield, with the former frequently outperforming his more famous brother with hard-working performances which have taken him all around the pitch, including into the heart of the defence.

On the wings, Eddie, the eldest of the Barr brothers, has also been industrious, and even Charlie Redmond has been subjugating his more flamboyant instincts in the interest of the team.

The point of all this is that it will make Castlehaven's accomplished short game harder to employ and mean less space for Tompkins than the more traditional tactics employed by Fethard allowed.

Assuming Tompkins lines out at centre forward, (Castlehaven won't name the side until today or tomorrow), and he has little option but to man that general area in the absence of Cahalane, he will be up against the Dubliners' most consistent performer, Mick Deegan, who's sufficiently comfortable on the ball to give his marker some additional defensive duties. Caught between this and Ken Spratt's tussle with Crowley, Castlehaven's playmaker is unlikely to have the space for successful orchestration. And in the left corner, John Cleary's importance to the team will come under pressure from Keith Murray, whose Leinster final performance was a model of tenacity.

Dungiven earned the exit visa from Ulster with a composed dispatch of Errigal Ciaran. This was achieved despite the tight and occasionally illegal tethering of Joe Brolly which served to underline the team's strength-in-depth.

On the full-forward line with Brolly are Geoffrey McGonigle and Cathal Grieve. McGonigle's talent is as well known as his physique, which lends a hefty dimension to his technical gifts, whereas Grieve covered well after Brolly's injury in the Ulster final.

Although Corofin have some youthful options, the veteran Burke brothers continue to stake their claims on the team. Gerry is said to have favoured retirement at the start of the season but didn't quite resist the call to persevere. At 39, he is up against another veteran, Brian McGilligan, whose game nowadays is based on fetching and intelligent distribution.

Ollie Burke is at corner back and the inexperienced Kevin Newell at full back. Only perhaps John Lardner in the left corner looks certain to have the equipment necessary for the job in hand, and, even then, the task of marking Brolly doesn't respond that well to such certainties.

In attack, Corofin have the proven form of Michael Donnellan, as well as the physical presence of Eddie Steed and the potential of Shane Conlisk and Derek Reilly. But with the McKeever brothers, Ciaran and captain Emmett, anchoring Dungiven's defence, the Galway club will need to show more reliable scoring capacity and improved concentration.

Overall, it's easier to see Dungiven becoming the third Derry club this decade to reach the final.