By Pádraic Ó Ciardha

It wasn’t the draw we wanted, but it felt like the draw we were destined to get.

If the Galway senior Gaelic footballers want to extend their season past Saturday evening, they’ll have to get the better of the reigning All-Ireland champions, Dublin, on their home patch (6.15pm).

After the gritty win against Monaghan last weekend, Galway’s potential quarter-final opponents were being picked over before Monday morning’s draw and cases were made for how Pádraic Joyce’s side might progress to an All-Ireland semi-final.

‘Have Kerry really been tested, having not faced any Division One team in the championship to date?’

‘Are Donegal 2.0 all that or has the return of the messiah Jim McGuinness been overblown?’

The potential chinks in Dublin’s armour were slower to be picked out, however.

Like Kerry, the Dubs once again strolled to provincial success, but they faced stiffer opposition in the group stages; and their final group game against Mayo, where Dublin snatched a draw at the end of a high-quality contest, will have blown any cobwebs off Dessie Farrell’s side.

In that game in Dr Hyde Park, Brian Fenton and Con O’Callaghan were kept relatively quiet, but Dublin had the luxury of introducing Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion off the bench to help them pull through, with Cormac Costello in flying form – his injury-time equaliser being one of seven points he kicked that afternoon.

A second-string Dublin side rolled over a depleted Galway outfit in Pearse Stadium during the league, 0-22 to 0-14, but the big guns are back for Dublin, with the biggest struggle for their manager being trying to fit them all in.

The struggle for Galway, however, is getting their big guns on the pitch at all. As has happened with a dispiriting frequency this year, good news on the injury front has been tempered by another potential setback.

Pictured: Damien Comer is tackled by Monaghan’s Killian Lavelle in last weekend’s preliminary quarter-final in Pearse Stadium. Galway must figure-out the best way to use the star forward on Saturday. Photos: Iain McDonald.