McNamara expecting a battle to savour

DON'T ask him to predict the result.

Former goalkeeping star Martin McNamara is as uncertain about the possible outcome to the Kerry/Galway clash in the Bank of Ireland football championship quarter-final in Croke Park on Sunday as most people. However, he is fairly sure about one thing that it will be a good game.

"Both teams play football, there'll be no 'niggly' stuff,'' he says. "Where you have two good teams out and they are willing to play football, 90% of the time you will get a quality game.''

McNamara opted out of the Galway team following the defeat by Kerry in the 2001 All-Ireland final replay after a lengthy career. But, like Pat Comer before him, he still continues to help out in training with the goalkeepers, Alan Keane and Padraig Lally. The reserve position rested between Lally and newcomer Brian Donoghue, until Donoghue damaged his knee and fell out of contention. Lally had been the number one choice at the start of last year's campaign, but lost out to Keane following the surprise defeat at the hands of Roscommon in the provincial semi-final.

It was for Keane a fairytale story, not quite plucked from obscurity, but given the chance to prove himself when the management had second thoughts about Lally. McNamara agrees it was a lucky break for him, thinking about his own long service before getting his reward in 1998. "You could say that I was there 'a good few years' before I won my All-Ireland medal. But, just before I finished I ended up getting a few awards. So I can't complain.

"Alan has been a huge influence on the team. He has settled down the whole back line, the way he is so commanding around the square. He has brought a whole lot of confidence there. They know that any ball going in there, the big man is going to be coming out collecting it.''

McNamara, who runs a pub in Tuam, believes that Kerry will have the advantage in match fitness. They may not exactly have been having "hard games", he feels, but they were still tested. On the other hand, while Galway won their last two games by only a few points, "they never had to go into second gear".

In their Connacht final meeting with Sligo, McNamara felt that they were a bit over-dependant on their back line. And up front they were relying on Padraig Joyce "to do it all on his own".

"If you are to rely on one man to do all the damage in the forward line against Kerry, you can forget about it. But the whole team know that and they have quality players in Matthew Clancy, Paul Clancy and Ja Fallon. There are six top forwards there. They all know they have to perform or they are out of it.''

Big midfielder Kevin Walsh is another player who has a big role to play: "If you never had him to play at all, just to have him in the dressing room is a benefit. The lads learn so much from him; he is such a calming influence on the whole set-up. And, naturally enough, to have him out on the pitch is a huge bonus.

"Himself and Darragh Ó Sé are two very different players. Kevin sort of hangs out around the middle, whereas you can see Darragh anywhere. But Darragh is no slouch. I wouldn't like to call who will be on top there. Then you look at Johnny Crowley. Is there any better forward in Ireland left on the subs bench? Galway have Tommy Joyce. He has come on the last two matches and has been excellent. He is dropped again, but he will definitely be introduced.

"Both teams are experienced enough to know that this game will be totally different to the ones they have played so far.

"I wouldn't judge it on any of the previous games.''