It promises to be a cracker as Galway take on All Ireland champions Kerry in the All Ireland championship quarter finals on Saturday in Croke Park (4pm).

It is the toughest possible draw for Liam Sammon's men against a Kerry side who have recovered from their shock Munster final defeat to Cork with a commanding win over Monaghan at the weekend. The quarter-final draws, which were made on Sunday evening, see Cork meeting Kildare with the winners of that clash taking on either Galway or Kerry in the semi-finals.

On the other side of the draw, Dublin face Tyrone on Saturday with the meeting of Armagh and Wexford the first game at Croke Park this Saturday.

Munster champions Cork take on Kildare on the Sunday with the Cork and Kilkenny All Ireland hurling game down for decision as well.

After their excellent victory over Monaghan last weekend Kerry are already strong favourites to retain the All Ireland crown but know they can take little for granted against Liam Sammon's men. The Galway team gathered on Monday night and there were several concerns ahead of the Kerry challenge at the weekend. While Nicky Joyce is a definite non-starter after an operation on his groin, Caltra veteran Declan Meehan, who missed the Connacht final due to a hamstring injury, has not recovered as fast as management would have liked and remains very doubtful about playing any part of Saturday's action.

"We were hoping that Declan would improve faster, but the situation is not looking good for a game on Saturday," said Sammon. Meanwhile Joe Bergin, who has been out with a long term injury, could be ready for some part of the action in the game against Kerry. Sammon and his selectors Jimmy O'Dea, Tom Ryder and Richie Fahey are hopeful that the towering Mountbellew/Moylough clubman could be available to play some role in the Kerry game.

"We will have to wait and see how Joe does this week in training. It would be a great boost but it will be a close call," added Sammon.

There is no doubt but the challenge of playing Kerry is the toughest test that Galway could have, and it will take a huge effort for Galway to make it to the semi finals.

But Galway showed commenable resilience when they edged out Mayo by a point in the provincial decider and following a fairly low standard of football at the weekend, Galway supporters will head to Croke Park on Saturday confident the All-Ireland champions can be dethroned the same way as the Connacht standard-bearers.

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