In his own words, Seamus Moynihan is simply "one of the 15". If he isn't playing well tomorrow, he says, then he's as likely to be pulled off as anyone else.

Most people would disagree. It may be just four games since Moynihan took over Kerry's vacant full back position, but already he's taken it to a new level. Think Cork, Clare and Armagh, and was there any player on the field of greater presence?

In other words, Moynihan is irreplaceable. Take him out of the defence and suddenly Kerry would look half the team they used to be.

His instinctive, unyielding approach has saved Kerry's skin uncountable times. Tomorrow, he will once again be the key guard against Galway.

Once the effervescent Barry O'Shea wrenched his knee in early March and was declared out for the season, speculation immediately mounted as to who - if anyone - would be capable of filling his shoes.

A circle of men were tried and tested in the latter stages of the league, but when it came to the championship opener against Cork, Moynihan was handed the ropes. At the time, many felt it would make or break Kerry's championship campaign.

A few months on and the questions have long since disintegrated. Taking Moynihan from his comforts of centre back to the challenge of full back has proved a master stroke - albeit an inevitable one.

Moynihan has, in fact, played in all Kerry's defensive positions since his championship debut back in 1992. "And I'm still learning," he says.

As Kerry wind down preparations for their second All-Ireland final in four years, Moynihan has become the focus of attention. Last week in Killarney, the country's media invaded the Kerry camp and no player was more sought out that Moynihan. So tell us about playing at full back?

"Well, of course you do discover new things all the time when playing there," he suggests. "If I was playing there for another five years I'd be still learning. But the lads around me have been playing very well also and I really think we'll be put to the acid test here.

"Those six Galway forwards are top class and if they get any opportunity they will punish you. All our players, never mind the full back, will be stretched in this one."

But he won't linger on the future, at least not before he recalls how lucky they are to be in the final.

"We certainly seemed to be on the beaten track against Armagh on more than a few occasions. I think Barry O'Hagan had the chance to put the ball over the bar right before the end of the drawn match.

"Even if he kicked the ball into the stand we probably would have been gone.

"We were lucky to get the chance to draw the game and even in the replay we had a good bit of luck. We were five points down at one stage and Mike Frank got his goal against the run of play."

It is, he says, impossible to know if his future is now set at full back. "It's hard to predict. If I get run around on Sunday I won't be long moved somewhere else.

"Centre back had been my most familiar spot all the way up through my career, but whether it's full back or corner back it's the same principle anyway. You have a man to mark and you have to limit the fouling. That's about it. Sure, it's that bit more negative in that you're not involved with the attack. But you just get on with the job at hand."

Ask the Kerry manager about what it takes to be a good full back and Paidi O Se twists the plot a little. "Well, it's no longer the orthodox position that it was, in say, the '70s.

"I think most teams in the country now, with the exception of ourselves and Galway really, don't play an orthodox full forward line. So what you need now in the full back position is pace and good footballing skills. And certainly Seamus has both of those.

"But he's the kind of player that would probably fit in comfortably anywhere. He's played at midfield with his club, he's played occasionally on the 40, and he also played corner back in the Australian series to good effect.

"But I know he'd be the first to tell you as well that he has two good corner men with him in Michael McCarthy and Mike Hassett."

On the quiet though, O Se will tell you that a good full back is a "prized possession". It was Moynihan who restored some calm to the beleaguered last line when Cork's frantic fightback in the Munster semi-final gained momentum.

And it was Moynihan who consistently thwarted the Armagh forwards on the two separate afternoons in Croke Park.

His head-to-head with Galway's full forward Padraig Joyce has been well versed as the clash of the final. So too has the friendly relationship between the two. Both men were part of the IT Tralee team which won successive Sigerson titles in 1997 and 1998.

"Of course we're very good friends from our college days, but we're both mature enough to leave that behind us when the ball is thrown in.

"I've probably played with him a lot more times than I've marked him. In fact, I've only marked him in training really and then the recent challenge game. But he's a top class performer and no defender likes to mark him, do they?"

And while many see their confrontation as pivotal, Moynihan sees it different. "Well no, I wouldn't see it that way at all. We're both one of 15 players on the day. Of course a lot will depend on the quality of ball that Padraig gets.

"At the moment you have Michael Donnellan kicking in 60yard balls, top-class balls, and it's very hard to defend against that. But you need 10 or 12 players performing on the day or you won't win anything."

There is pressure and there is great expectancy, he agrees, but his role as captain, he says, is definitely over-rated.

"For a start, if I go out and play bad, Paidi O Se and John O'Keeffe won't think twice about keeping me on the field just because I'm captain. It's a great honour, obviously, but I'm not much of a talker either.

"I just let the talkers talk, but when you're in an All-Ireland final, it doesn't take much talking anyway."