Ó Curraoin on mission to halt Mayo monopoly

Midfielder Fiontán Ó Curraoin has been on the Galway panel for four seasons but didn’t think it would take this long to get to his first Connacht SFC final.

But while the Micheál Breathnach’s clubman has been on the scene for a few seasons he is still only 21.

He formed a solid midfield partnership with Tom Flynn which has yielded two All-Ireland U21 titles and is hungry for senior success.

“It’s my fourth year involved with the panel so I can’t wait for my first Connacht final. I grew up going to Connacht finals so it will be great to finally play in one,” he said.

He said they are in no doubt about the potential of a Mayo side going for a fourth title in-a-row but he believes Galway can deliver on their underage promise.

“They’ve set the standard in Connacht now for the last four or five years so it’s up to us to climb to that mark.

“We’ve got a good young team there, there’s good potential so we’re just going to do the best we can to set down a marker.

“It is great to see so many of the younger lads coming through. The likes of Shane Walsh and Damien Comer have made a big impact so hopefully we can build on that and get big performances,” he said.

Ó Curraoin believes they have progressed steadily after recovering from a disastrous three-match losing run in the league and that they now feel they have the ability to triumph on Sunday.

“I think the Laois game in the league was the turning point. From then on we’ve had a bit of consistency and got a good bit of performance so we’re just trying to keep that run going,” he added.