Ian O'Riordan finds a contrast in approach between the rival Leinster final managers

So here's the scene ahead of Sunday's Leinster football final.

Paul Caffrey, whose Dublin team are heavy favourites to defend their title, is closely guarded, paranoid almost, never once straying from what seems like a prepared script.

Kevin Kilmurray, whose Offaly team are chasing a first title in nine years, opens his heart and practically courts attention, embracing the huge hype surrounding their venture to Croke Park.

Given that we expect managers to reflect the confidence and attitude of their players, it all appears a little incongruous. Kilmurray has staged a press night, giving even his youngest players freedom of speech, and finalised his line-up early in the week - all things a manager is not supposed to do when his team are heavy underdogs.

Could it be that Kilmurray, in only his second year with Offaly, is a little naive Hardly. This is a man who won three successive Leinster titles playing with Offaly between 1971 and 1973, winning two All-Irelands in the process. Dublin may be favourites on Sunday but Offaly have their own agenda.

"Well, I've always finalised my teams early in the week," says Kilmurray. "Players like it that way. And I think players are entitled to speak to the press. It's changed a lot since my time, when I would train in UCD and reporters like John O'Shea would have to drive out and talk to us. No big expenses, like you guys have now.

"But I think in a way players like the exposure, and some even want it. And why not? Some managers like to keep players under wraps and that's their call. And there are times when players have to go away and hide. But we'll have over 80,000 people in Croke Park on Sunday. They'll have paid good money to get there, and I think they're entitled to a little bit of the player.

"We have a lot of young players in Offaly who would look up to someone like Niall McNamee. So I think it's good the players get as much exposure as they can."

Just being back in the final for the first time in nine years probably justifies Kilmurray's enthusiasm, and he respects his county's desire to celebrate that.

"Offaly has always had a strong football tradition, and I suppose the supporters got sick of our performances over the last few years. And they had their reasons. So Sunday is a great occasion for Offaly, especially with the fact that they're playing Dublin, with all their colour and entertainment. Maybe 60,000 in Croke Park on Sunday will be in favour of Dublin but we don't mind that.

"And it's been nine years since we were here. That's not easy to explain, but Offaly have suffered lot of first-round knock-outs for a few years. Our wins over Westmeath and Kildare this year cemented a bit of confidence. And there's nothing like winning; it has great medicinal powers.

"And I'd say if you plotted our form in a mathematical histogram you'd have a nice, smooth curve going upwards. But of course Dublin are up at the top of that curve, and maybe even blown themselves off it. Their performance against Laois was nothing short of awesome. I just hope Dublin hit their trough on Sunday. Of course I'm not expecting that."

Kilmurray knows as well as anyone what to expect from Dublin. He's crossed swords before with Caffrey when, as manager of St Brigid's, he met Na Fianna in the Dublin championship:

"I know any team managed by Paul Caffrey is strong, uncompromising, with a great will to win, and always very fit. And I expect that on Sunday."

To Caffrey then, who is clearly burdened by the greater expectation given Dublin's 14-point semi-final win over Laois. "The bottom line is the last day is no good," he starts. "We have to do it the next day." So what have Dublin done over the past fortnight to improve? "Just train very hard. That's all we did. Actually harder than we trained before the Laois match.

"There's no danger of peaking too soon because if you're not right for a match at this level you're going to get beat. As the hurdles get higher you have to make sure you're ready for them. We felt we were right for the Longford game and look at the struggle we had, so we'd be expecting another very tight game on Sunday.

"I've been involved since 2002 and I wouldn't necessarily see this as a stronger Dublin panel than before. The under-21s that have come through have matured a lot physically.

"But we've spent the same amount of time analysing Offaly as we spent on Longford. Healthy respect is given to all opposition, and we'd have men behind the scenes doing an awful lot of hours on work like that."