It'd be hard to describe this evening's Kerry-Galway Allianz Football League match as a repeat of the widely feted 2022 All-Ireland final, given the stakes are drastically lower and at least one of the leading men from that afternoon will be absent.
Tradition dictates that the purists automatically salivate over this match-up. They have no great objection to these two teams - quite the reverse.
There was a great deal of mutual appreciation between the counties back in the 2000s. Most of the admiring words came from the Kerry direction - usually from the safety of the winners' enclosure, it was often noticed.
Once upon a time, Galway had a name for being Kerry's bogey team, back at the height of the Lemass boom in the 60s; although Down probably had stronger claims to the tag.
Galway's greatest ever team beat Kerry three years running in Croke Park: in the 1963 semi-final and then in the finals of '64 and '65.
Perhaps it might be truer to say they were Mick O'Dwyer's bogey team, given his prominence as a player in the 60s and what happened later on when he was Kildare manager.
Kerry have largely had it their own way in the 21st century, winning six of the seven championship encounters, losing only the Super 8 game in the rain in 2018, a result which ultimately did for Eamonn Fitzmaurice.
Both have one win and one loss coming into Round 3, having been accompanied by very different mood music at the outset.
Jack O'Connor didn't look terribly distressed by their four-point loss in Ballyshannon nor does he appear anxious to preserve his record of overseeing league and championship doubles.
But then that was also true last year, when Kerry were for most of the campaign concerned with avoiding relegation and more or less wound up in the league final by accident. Once in it, there was little to do only go and win it.
David Clifford was rested for the trip to Donegal and there's no clarity on whether he'll be playing this Saturday. One hypothesis is that he might be spared the lengthy away trips and will reappear under lights in Tralee. In which case, he will tog this evening.
Kerry is a land of footballing milk and honey at the minute. Even in post-All-Ireland winning years, there's usually more angst around than this.
Last year's All-Ireland final, in which they sickened all their Ulster irritants, ranked high in the all-time satisfaction rankings. Their clubs have just completed an All-Ireland clean sweep.
If anything, this could be a cause for concern given that O'Connor's teams usually thrive when there's a bit of rancour and disquiet in the air. Kerry football is experiencing levels of happy outness not seen since about 1981.
It's a dramatic change from 12 months ago when the word coming out from Kerry supporters was that they were tiring of O'Connor and hankering for the end of his reign. Then came the All-Ireland victory and the least surprising u-turn in history. Now he's there as long as we wishes.
What of the visitors?
Galway's permanent rolling injury crisis shows no sign of abating. Their supporters have come to await every Thursday evening squad announcement with bated breath, as they discover who's picked up a knock this week. (Their squad drops on 'X' are like the breakfast table scenes on the Traitors at this stage.)
This week's squad saw Shane Walsh and Cillian McDaid drop off the matchday 26 without explanation although the rumour mill is satisfied that they're injured again.
Pádraic Joyce was fairly weary and curt when asked about Galway's injured players this year. He generally gives the impression it's one of his least favourite topics - up there with his managerial head-to-head record against Mayo circa early 2024.
They do have good news on the injury front, with John Maher returning to the starting line-up after breaking his ankle in Salthill's Galway SFC semi-final win over Corofin last October. Céin D'Arcy is still not included but should be back soon to provide more ballast in the midfield, an area in which they were chronically weakened in the first two rounds.
One modest upside of Galway's injury woes is that it has forced them to build huge depth into their squad. Crucially, they have the resources to do so.
At the beginning of the league, the national consensus was pretty downbeat on Galway's prospects. Last summer's quarter-final exit to Meath and the continued injury woes of Comer and Walsh.
The county is well stocked with a supply of stylishly languid half-forwards. No sooner had Matthew Thompson headed off on an Erasmus year in Berkeley than Mountbellew's Ciaran Mulhern emerged in his place, with an eye-catching display against Mayo the first day out.
With their first choice midfield essentially in mothballs for the first two rounds of the league, Shay McGlinchey, a graduate from the 2022 All-Ireland winning minor team, looked the part in the second half against Armagh.
In the absence of his high profile teammates in attack, Rob Finnerty has ascended to the status of an A-list forward.
Their current league campaign has some echoes of their travails in the spring of 2024, when they were similarly riven by injuries but managed to eke out enough points to avoid the drop, after wins on the road against Tyrone and Monaghan.
Their experimental side was pipped by Mayo in a ludicrously entertaining first round game in Salthill, where Galway's goal chance tally was in the double digits, most of them being lashed directly at Rob Hennelly's torso.
This didn't deter them from seeking out goals and the following week they managed to snatch a win against the head in the Athletic Grounds, thanks to Armagh's fisted point addiction and their own opportunism and shooting efficiency in the final quarter.
They managed to sneak home on the Fullerton-esque scoreline of 3-12 to 0-20 and Joyce was strikingly jubilant afterwards. With Dublin and Monaghan both struggling for traction and a home game against Roscommon on the horizon, Galway should be able to find the points to guarantee safety in the top tier - which would be a success in the circumstances.
Late last year, there were doom-laden suggestions that their 'window had closed' but the early rounds of the league suggest they could be regenerating again.
Watch Kerry v Galway in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
