Kildare fans may be travelling to Croke Park more in hope than expectation - but former Kildare star Karl O'Dwyer believes that the current crop has a "right good chance" against the All Ireland Champions if they can keep up with Dublin for the first 15 or 20 minutes.
However, if they fail to do so he believes that they may face a long afternoon chasing shadows.
Paul Curran, who lifted the Sam Maguire in 1995 with Dublin, also joined Off The Ball to discuss the match. He expects to see a Dublin team, "with their heads fully focused on the task," this weekend. He described the provincial final as, “Just another game” for this Dublin squad.
Discussing Dublin's slow start against Carlow he noted that there have been tweaks in Dublin's approach to the 2017 season which are aimed at seeing the team hit its peak from the start of August.
Hunger
"Kildare's ravenous for a Leinster title at this stage," O'Dwyer told Newstalk.
He thinks that this year's team will benefit from having a number of young players in the squad who have beaten Dublin at minor and U21 level and who have not suffered heavy championship defeats against Dublin.
On Sunday he believes Kildare will hope to use their pace and that their strength lies in working scores from turnovers and making quick transitions from defence to attack.
But he notes that they may struggle to adapt to their surrounds as they play in front of 50,000 or 60,000 people for the first time.
Hear their full conversation and their look back at the Dublin / Kildare rivalry of the 90s and 00s.
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