Gaelic Games All-Ireland club football final: Only once previously in a decade and a half has the All-Ireland club final thrown up a pairing with no town team.

The close family ties within An Ghaeltacht and Caltra reflect this rural orientation and there are other similarities both in the presence of intercounty celebrities, good goalkeepers in Pat Healy and Kevin Kilroy, and the swift progress to senior status over the past decade.

Beyond the superficial comparisons, however, there are differences. The Kerry champions have been building to an occasion like this for a number of years and have learned the hard lessons about club championship play in their previous county winning season.

Caltra on the other hand have popped out explosively and defied local suspicions about their limitations by winning first Connacht and then reaching Galway's first club football final since Corofin won six years ago. They have travelled further to reach this afternoon's climax than the distance that remains between them and ultimate success.

Both teams emerged from semi-finals in which the disappointment of the losers was as pronounced as the jubilation of the winners. Loup from Derry had convinced a good few people - although significantly not the bookies - that they represented the best bet of all the semi-finalists. They lost focus against Caltra, however, with the injury to their midfielder John O'Kane and during the match itself lost discipline after Mikey Meehan's goal at the start of the second half.

Dublin champions St Brigid's didn't click on the day. They looked capable of cutting An Ghaeltacht to ribbons in the early stages but when the flow stopped they weren't able to get it started again. Coach Paddy Clarke says St Brigid's hadn't been together long enough as a team to be able to survive the pressure on their shape and composure whereas their opponents have a well-oiled game plan. Or indeed several. As Clarke also points out, the Kerry club have varied their tactics astutely from match to match.

"In one game they'd use (Cathal) Ó Dubhda in defence to allow Tomás Ó Sé get up the field; in another they put him in front of the full back. Against Kilkee (Munster final) they brought Roibeárd Mac Gearailt back to counter the height of the Russells and then against us just played straight 3-3-2-3-3."

The one reservation that was expected to have a big impact on that semi-final was An Ghaeltacht's lack of pace, particularly in Thurles, and for a while the match went to script but gradually the Munster champions imposed their own game and St Brigid's couldn't respond.

Caltra bring a fair amount of pace to this final but there has to be doubt over whether players like Shane Hogan have the experience to dictate it any more successfully than the Dublin side. Mikey Meehan is carrying an awful lot of the scoring burden with 6-40 for the campaign to date but he does represent a menacing focus in attack - something St Brigid's lacked outside of the turbo runs of Declan Lally.

Meehan's brother Declan is in excellent form and will force An Ghaeltacht on to the back foot whereas another brother, Noel, will work intelligently to optimise Mikey's impact up front.

There's no doubting the quality of these players but their opponents have plenty of class and it's better spread throughout the team. The Ó Sé brothers provide a line from goal to centrefield.

Marc played well in the semi-final, Tomás with his raiding breaks has been their best performer this campaign whereas Darragh overcame a slow start on Jason Ward to dominate the middle, an area where Caltra are likely to struggle to compete with Tomás Meehan improvising at centrefield.

Aodán Mac Gearailt has been battling injury but even if he's not 100 per cent there are other solid score taking options. Dara Ó Cinnéide will kick the frees and pose general problems.

The pattern of club finals has always been that the weakest link has been more important than the strongest. At the top end of this confrontation Caltra have nothing to fear but the suspicion that in cricketing terms they have a longer tail than An Gaeltacht means the title should be heading south this evening.