THERE can hardly be a competition like it. Every year, the Railway Cup excites a flood of existential agonising over its history, function and future.

Its declining powers to attract spectators is set against its possibilities as a "players competition" and the widespread assertion that the players are really interested in it, despite abundant evidence to the contrary.

Against such a backdrop, this year's football competition has come as a welcome relief. The breakthrough of Connacht in reaching a first final in 11 years guarantees the biggest attendance this decade; there are traces of a buzz around Castlebar for the visit of reigning champions Leinster.

The appearance of Connacht is timely in another way. With football in the west experiencing the first stirrings of revival, the victory over Munster lent the process some momentum. Taking the cup for the first time in 28 years would add to it.

Manager Martin Carney's preparations have benefitted from a greater commitment among the players and increased availability. Barring injury, it's hard to think of players who should be on the Connacht team but aren't.

Leinster haven't been similarly blessed, but such is the spread of talent in the province that there are few unavailable names who make obvious omissions. Meath's holiday, and the withdrawal of a couple of Dublin players, have restricted the scope of the panel but have not affected the first team too much.

Trevor Giles is engaged in Sigerson Cup activity with UCD, but that aside, the number of personnel changes that could be made to strengthen Leinster are limited. The Mayo public might have been harbouring macabre hopes of seeing John McDermott and Liam McHale re-engage at midfield, but McDermott was unlikely to come back from suspension and oust one of the formidable Tony Maher-Seamus O'Hanlon pairing.

That midfield battle is one of the reasons that the final will probably not yield a popular result. McHale has been out of sorts and out of shape in recent times and didn't have a great semi-final. His Mayo partner, James Nallen, was improvised into an effective midfielder the last day, but the opposition will be stiffer tomorrow.

Defence served Connacht reasonably well against Munster, and the display of Galway's Damien Mitchell minimised the loss of Nallen from centre-back. But again, Leinster's options up front are a lot more extensive.

Graham Geraghty is the one sun-tanned Meathman to be asked back into the team (he made a semi-final appearance as substitute a matter of hours after returning from Lanzarote), and he gets an opportunity to seek revenge on Connacht captain Pat Holmes, who comfortably subdued him in the two All-Ireland finals.

In the full-forward line, Leinster have two lethal corners; Colin Kelly did the cutting against Ulster, but Kevin O'Brien (doubtful because of injury) was also in fine form. The task for both Kenneth Mortimer and Enon Gavin is sizeable.

At the other end of the pitch, Matt Kerrigan's team would appear to have a similar edge. Connacht's attack was patchy in the semi-final, and scorer-in-chief Declan Darcy is moved back to centre forward where his clash with Glen Ryan goes to the heart of whatever chance Connacht have. Ross Carr caused the Kildare captain some discomfort and Darcy must try also to impose himself physically.

On either side of Ryan, wing backs Paul Curran and John Donaldson were outstanding in the semi-final.

When the sectors stack up, it's hard not to side with Leinster, even when the possibilities of an atmospheric home crowd are taken into account.