Even allowing for the fact that it's about the safest prediction you can make concerning a match, a good number of observers believe that centrefield will be the decisive area of combat in tomorrow's Munster football final.

The reasons are largely based on the presence of two good defences and the likelihood that whichever team can channel more ball into their forwards will have the upper hand. At the heart of such conjecture is Kerry's Dara O Se - the most highly-regarded of the quartet on duty at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

"When he's on top, he uses the ball well," according to one experienced Corkman. The big imponderable with O Se, however, is the premise. When he's on top, he's a top-rank centrefielder. Other times he's equally capable of fading into anonymity.

There are signs now that the player is maturing into a more consistent performer. In the boilerhouse of an inter-county centrefield, an effective player needs to be of a certain age. Aside from Brian Mullins 25 years ago, it's hard to think of a successful teenager in the position.

From an early age, O Se has had to cope with unreasonable expectations. A nephew of Kerry manager Paidi, he was a celebrated under-age player and his arrival at senior level was widely forecast.

"He was very promising with the club," according to former Kerry senior and under-21 coach Seamus MacGearailt, who had charge of O Se at both levels. "All the way through under-age to minor and from a very young age - as indeed were his brothers Feargal (who currently trains the Gaeltacht club side), Tomas and Marc.

"Dara was tried at full back a couple of times by the club, but realistically he's always been a midfielder. He's always been a rangy player. Fielding is his strongest point, but he's also big and strong and his ability on the ball would point him to the centrefield area. I always felt he'd make a centrefielder. It's the only position that suits him."

At under-age level, he was a Kerry minor in 1993 - a year in which the county drew a blank. One summer later he was making his senior championship debut against Limerick at the age of 19. It would be a couple of years before he had established himself as a regular first-team presence.

In the meantime the under-21s proved a happier under-age hunting ground and back-to-back All-Irelands ensued. His role, according to MacGearailt, was significant.

"He was very central to the 1995 and '96 All-Irelands. A great ball-winner, he was also a great motivator. When he's moving, he lifts a team. Dara was a towering figure, particularly at under-21 level. He came up against some very good opponents like Dermot McCabe (Cavan), but he rises to the occasion."

By that second year he was a first-choice on the senior team and Kerry landed a first Munster title in five years. A sound display in the Munster final against Cork was followed by a let-down as Mayo's Liam McHale and Pat Fallon dominated centrefield in the All-Ireland semi-final.

During the All-Ireland success of 1997, the graph of his performances rose as the championship progressed. After a poor Munster final, when Clare's Donal O'Sullivan was the leading player as Kerry had to survive being outplayed in the middle, O Se and his partner William Kirby came good in the All-Ireland series.

With O Se to the fore, they sprung a coup on the highly-regarded Cavan duo of Stephen King and McCabe and did better than most people had imagined in the final by not yielding the initiative to Fallon until well into the second half.

"In some of his matches in '97 he wasn't as prominent as you'd hope he would have been," says MacGearailt. "Then again there's lulls and valleys for all players. Very few footballers can dominate for 70 minutes.

"I think himself and William Kirby were a good combination. Dara stayed around to field ball and control the middle. Kirby moved around a good bit, but Dara has gained in confidence over the last year and is now more inclined to take a pot-shot himself. Before he tended to stay between the 50-yard lines."

A recurring theme of any assessment of O Se's career is that he has never had a particularly accomplished partner. Over the years since Jack O'Shea's reign ended, the county has never really produced a consistent centrefielder. There was no one waiting to take over from Jacko as Ambrose O'Donovan retired at the same time. This has affected O Se from the beginning, in the opinion of current Kerry fitness coach John O'Keeffe.

"Dara came through on to a weak Kerry team and too much was expected of him as a 19-year-old. He never had a senior partner to guide him. It's only now he's beginning to show his true potential."

This lack can also be seen in the trend that sees O Se give his most memorable performances when his partner plays well.

Against Cork last year he was excellent, but it was also one of his current partner Donal Daly's better performances. Admittedly Cork were poor, with Damien O'Neill patently unfit and only when Nicholas Murphy, who starts tomorrow, came on did they get a bit of ball.

So far this year it is noticeable that O Se is bigger and stronger. Increased confidence in his strength sometimes leads him to seek needless hits, but the overall impact is markedly more formidable. O'Keeffe says that the player has worked hard in the last 12 months.

"My contact with Dara has been that he partook in a weight-training programme throughout the winter. He also worked on his spring through a programme of plyometrics - a bounding exercise, developing explosive ability using hurdles set at various heights.

"The one area he could work on is his workrate. He fades in every game, but he puts a lot into catching ball and kicking - he's very accurate with his deliveries. That workrate can be mental as well as physical."

MacGearailt agrees. "He has suffered from huge expectations but by and large I think he has delivered. He has lapses of concentration, but that improves with experience and confidence."

The future looks positive. His club Gaeltacht have for the first time gone it alone in the county championship, breaking away from the divisional West Kerry side. With county team-mates including brother Tomas, Dara O Cinneide, Aodan MacGearailt and his brother Roibeard, who is a panellist, Gaeltacht are many people's favourites for the title.

In the meantime there's a Munster title to be won tomorrow and with O Se's confidence now flowering, the knowledge that he can be a central figure is more likely to inspire rather than inhibit.