Galway question marks — Mayo by four points

Ray Silke

It was the Tribesmen's first provincial success since 1987 and that side went on to lose narrowly to Tyrone in the semi-final.

Many pundits feel that it was there, with McDermott and Liam Sammon, that the foundations of the 1998 breakthrough side were laid.

Tomorrow at Pearse Stadium, only Gary Ruane and James Nallen remain in the respective starting line-ups. Interestingly, they will both play in the same positions, corner-back and centre-back respectively, as in the ' 95 final.

The only Galway player still togging out at county level is Seán De Paor.

Jarlath Fallon, wing-forward ten years ago, is now a selector with Peter Forde, while Val Daly, who scored 0-4 from full-forward off Kevin Cahill, is in charge of Roscommon.

Much has happened in the intervening period both off and on the field for big two in Connacht.

On the negative side, Mayo have been beaten in three All-Ireland senior finals (and one draw) since then with Kerry their big bogey team, while on the plus side Galway collected Sam Maguire in 1998 and 2000.

In the past few years there has been very little separating the sides in the Connacht championship.

In the 2002 semi-final, Galway won by two, (0-12 to 1-7). In 2003 (Connacht final) it ended in the Tribesmen's favour again, 1-14 to 0-13, while last year at McHale Park, John Maughan's men won by a six-point margin, 0-18 to 1-9.

There are no real favourites tomorrow and with Boylesports quoting both at 5/6, you can see that it is a hard call. In fact a draw looks the most attractive punt.

The most promising aspect of Galway's victory over Leitrim was the display of two of the players who won All-Ireland U21 medals this spring.

Big Barry Cullinane and Niall Coleman at midfield gave fine performances and their battle with Ronan McGarrity and Shane Fitzmaurice will be crucial to tomorrow's outcome.

From a negative viewpoint, the Galway full-back line leaked like a sieve against Leitrim and looked completely inept at dealing with high ball kicked into a rampant Declan Maxwell.

To counteract that, Salthill's Finian Hanley, who played full-back for the U21 team, has been drafted into the number three spot, with 2001 Allstar Kieran Fitzgerald re-deployed at right corner-back.

Corofin's Alan Burke, who captained that U21 team, has the onerous task of picking up Conor Mortimer. Paul Clancy is selected at centre-back and the dilemma is whether he should stick tightly to the Ciarán McDonald or stay back and hold the middle?

I believe he should mark McDonald closely and try and stop him receiving ball easily and hitting those passes to his inside line. If you keep Ciarán facing his own goal you have stopped a major Mayo threat.

Perhaps a wing-forward could drop behind the centre and offer protection in front of the full back line.

Both the respective full-back lines have major question marks hanging over them and the fact that Mayo have selected the same trio that did battle with Kerry in last year's All-Ireland must be a major worry for the green and red supporters.

Trevor Mortimer has come back to good form and starts alongside Billy Joe Padden, who had a stormer against Roscommon, scoring three points and setting up the goal, while Conor Mortimer is a livewire at No 13.

It will be a big test for Galway's last line of defence to keep them at bay.

Last year, I confidently went for Mayo to beat Galway and they did so by six points. And it is hard to see what Galway have done in the intervening time to change that.

Admittedly, they did win the All-Ireland U21 title, however there is a world of a difference between that and senior level. Players like Sean Armstrong, Micheal Meehan, Alan Burke, Cullinane and Coleman who shone in that campaign will not have it so easy at senior level In the final analysis, whoever wins the midfield battle and the central-diamond area will win this joust. And with McGarrity, Nallen and McDonald the more established and experienced players the balance lies with Mayo.

There are too many question marks over the Galway defence for my liking and the inexperience of Coleman and Cullinane doesn't inspire confidence.

If Mayo can dominate the midfield exchanges, they will win this Connacht final by four points.