Galway enter their first All-Ireland football final in 21 years as dangerous underdogs and former stalwart Gary Sice is adamant this Sunday's decider is one they can "absolutely" win.
After a couple of decades marked by lean times, false dawns and a fair smattering of Connacht titles here or there, the westerners are back in an All-Ireland final with a well-balanced team boasting a sound defensive structure and decorated by Galway's usual coterie of stylish forwards.
Kerry, rapping hard on the door for several years, have understandably been installed as favourites since slaying the blue dragon nine days ago but Sice is strikingly bullish, stressing that Galway have a more "settled" structure, one perfectly fitted to the players available.
"They can win this All-Ireland, absolutely," Sice told RTÉ Sport this week.
"I think our structure at the moment is the best one for the players available to us and I think we're very settled in that structure, and that's probably where our best opportunity is going to come from.
"I think going after the Kerry sweeper situation they have at the minute is going to be a big part of the game. I'm not so sure that they're comfortable in what they're doing. They've got an understanding of it, but I don't think they're fully settled into that structure yet.
"I think it's a work in progress. Usually when you change to a sweeper system like they have, that doesn't happen in a season. It needs to be tested, and I don't think it has been tested. Dublin without Con (O'Callaghan) are one thing, Dublin with Con are a completely different thing and I don't think that system was tested to its most the last day.
"I don't think they had the danger behind Tadhg Morley that would have been there if Con was present. So I think that's an opportunity for Galway with Damien Comer in the form he's in at the minute. That could bring trouble for Kerry."
Sice, a leading figure during Corofin's glorious run, was a member of Galway's victorious under-21 side of 2005 alongside Michael Meehan and Sean Armstrong (both of whom scored hat-tricks as the westerners registered a bewildering tally of 6-05 against Down in the final).
At senior level, however, the county was oddly mired in abject mediocrity for much of the next decade, failing to build on an impressive 2008 campaign which yielded their last provincial title for eight years - and ended with that famous five-point quarter-final loss to Kerry in torrential rain, an encounter which had purists everywhere swooning.
It wasn't until the middle of the next decade, after Kevin Walsh introduced a more defensive and pragmatic structure, that Galway began to creep upwards towards the summit of the game. Sice sees the 2022 incarnation of Galway under Pádraic Joyce as an amalgamation of Walsh's game-plan and a more open, attacking approach.
"I think we're now a hybrid of the Pádraic and Kevin Walsh systems. I think it's a great fit for them at the moment. Every team at the start of the year aims for a structure or system but the best coaches can make the system or structure suit the players they have. I don't think it works the other way.
"I think this year the age profile and the clientele available and the fitness of players have all come together. Some players in that panel have struggled for fitness over a period of time through injuries and week on, week off problems. I think they've all had a run at it now at the moment.
"John Daly is a part of that, he's had a good run this year with no injuries and he's been very effective in the middle of Kieran (Molloy) and Dylan (McHugh) there. So the structure suits and the players in the positions they're in are playing at a very high level which is fantastic for all Galway supporters to see."
By contrast, Sice sees weaknesses in the Kerry arsenal - both with and without the ball.
"From a Kerry point of view, I think they're between structures at the moment. They frustrated themselves against Mayo by driving a lot of ball in on top of David Clifford and lost a lot and kept Mayo in the game for a long time and gave them opportunities.
"I think against Dublin they went the other way. They got too conservative and tried to run an awful of ball. So I'm not sure they're as comfortable as they think they are, whereas we have gone from strength to strength in our structure since the Mayo game.
"I think the Armagh battle gave lads more confidence in what they're doing and I think that's why it's working so well for us this year."
While Galway's defensive solidity has marked the greatest improvement in their game in 2022, their biggest asset remains their stacked forward division, where any number of players could hit form, with the midfield pair of Paul Conroy and Cillian McDaid also formidable shooters.
With Rob Finnerty - so prolific against Armagh and Roscommon - bottled up the last day and Shane Walsh kept quiet from play, it was Damien Comer who proved the match-winner against Derry. However, with Tadhg Morley likely to be focused on denying Comer quick ball, Sice sees opportunities for the other forwards to step up, citing Finnerty, Walsh and the raiding Johnny Heaney.
"I'd be looking at the confusion Damien can cause by coming to look for that ball. I don't think he's going to get on a whole load of ball in there the next day, I think he'll struggle to get much ball in around the 'D'.
"I think Derry, when they look back, will be very disappointed with the way he got that ball out on the 'D' for the few scores he got in the first half because they would have prided themselves on blocking that area.
"I think Tadhg Morley's main mission in life at the moment is to stop that area there. Damien might struggle there, so the opportunity will actually be around the back door with Rob Finnerty and Shane Walsh if he stays in there or with maybe Johnny Heaney who is very good at getting around that block around the 'D' and getting shots off from either side of it.
"I saw opportunities there the last day for Dublin that they didn't take. I don't know if they fully recognised it. I think if Con was there as a focal point there would have been more opportunity for it. I do think Galway will have opportunities there."
While Shane Walsh - broadly admired as Galway's most lavishly gifted player - struggled to influence the semi-final in open play due to the dogged marking of Conor McCluskey, his four points from placed balls either side of half-time (well, one of them was only awarded at half-time) were crucial to the outcome.
"He's absolutely nailing free-kicks. He's been given a detailed job and he does his job in the structure. He put in a few massive hits on Derry players and he's a big, physical animal. We'd love to see more from him in open play and I don't think he's punishing teams [enough], but he has really upped his workrate off the ball."
Follow the All-Ireland Football Championship final on Sunday, Galway v Kerry, from 2pm via our live blogs on rte.ie/sport or on the RTÉ News app. Watch live coverage on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player with live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch the All-Ireland Camogie semi-finals on Saturday, Cork v Waterford (3.15pm), Galway v Kilkenny (5.30pm), live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow live blog on RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport.
Watch Up for the Match this Saturday from 9.45pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
