Champions can regain appetite

Despite its obvious danger, this Bank of Ireland Connacht football final is a match which Galway really needed. If the All-Ireland champions are to restate their credentials for retaining their titles, they need a challenge which will focus their attentions on the field away from the myriad distractions generated in the county.

These include the sheer impact of coping with success after 30 years of accommodating failure - a process complicated by the relative youth of the team - over-nourished egos, and a rancid karma created by apparently worsening lawlessness (for which county officials will shortly have to account in a court of justice).

It's been a tall order for John O'Mahony and his selectors, so presumably it's a relief to have no difficulty in drawing players' attention to the scale of the task at hand.

Not unnaturally for the first team to be defending an All-Ireland title in Connacht since 1967, Galway may have been tempted to make assumptions about their progress to Croke Park. These have been rudely interrupted by two events: firstly the embarrassing difficulty caused by nearly losing to Sligo and being grateful for the replay and, secondly, the volcanic eruption of Mayo's forwards in the second half of their semi-final against Roscommon.

It was never going to take very much to establish the match against Mayo as a serious matter for Galway - the mere fact of Mayo beating a fancied Roscommon has been in some ways sufficient even without considering the impressive conviction with which they completed the task.

The question therefore is: have Mayo improved to the extent that they can exploit any slippage in Galway's standards? Judged by last year's meeting in Castlebar, there's not much of a gap between the sides. Had Kieran McDonald's shot not come back off the bar in the second half, the result might have been different.

In their favour, Mayo have had a year to regenerate after two lengthy and ultimately demoralising campaigns and have made a couple of tactical switches to freshen up the overall impact. James Nallen is a fine footballer whose attacking instincts find greater scope at centre-field than at centre back.

Kenneth Mortimer also has the football to make a success of the transition from corner back to centre forward and did so against Roscommon.

The problem is that as you look around the field, it's hard to avoid the fact that Mayo have disimproved in key areas compared to their best season three years ago. Nallen's and Mortimer's redeployment may well be benefiting their new sectors, but as they were the best two players at the back, the defence has to have suffered.

Gordon Morley gave a stunning display at corner back, but there is no unanimity in Mayo - or indeed Galway where he plays his club football - that he can again attain that standard marking Derek Savage. In the other corner Aidan Higgins's pace is a major asset, but he is, like Morley, inexperienced at this level.

Kevin Cahill's good form will steady the line in whatever circumstances arise, but overall the defence is untried - all the more so should Noel Connelly fail to start after missing training during the week because of injury.

It's one of the more enduring mysteries of Mayo football that Liam McHale and Pat Fallon - two of the best championship centre-fielders of recent years - played as a partnership so rarely. Injury partially explains it, but now it's all a bit academic with McHale coming to the end of his career and Fallon benched.

David Brady and Nallen is a plausible-looking combination, but hardly represents a similar force let alone an improvement.

The high score against Roscommon featured eight frees from the metrenomic dead-ball kicking of Maurice Sheridan and six points from play courtesy of John Casey.

Maybe Casey can overcome his big-match inconsistency and find a similar purchase against Ray Silke, whose tendency to concern himself with general rather than specific defence can result in loose marking. Maybe Kieran McDonald can repeat his display of last May when - as expected - he makes an appearance. It's all a bit heavy with maybes, though.

Galway aren't without their own question marks. Full back Gary Fahy is struggling with injury and may not make the starting fifteen. Silke, as mentioned above, and centre back John Divilly aren't the tightest man-on-man defenders and Casey and Mortimer accordingly have something to aim at.

The intrusion of injuries is an unwelcome phenomenon for O'Mahony, who in that respect had a fairly trouble-free route to the All-Ireland last year. Players have been missing during the spring and fitness problems have arisen for various players, including goalkeeper Martin McNamara - whose saves in the Sligo replay appear to have restored his confidence a bit - and centre-fielder Kevin Walsh.

The Galway attack was at the heart of last year's title run. Can it reproduce that form which delivered to some extent on every outing last year? Jarlath Fallon was the central influence and when he came into matches, the team clicked. Curbing him is one of Mayo's most pressing priorities.

Finally, the verdict goes to Galway. There are sufficient grounds for believing that Roscommon's poor performance exaggerated Mayo's virtues and, more crucially, that the second-half rout of Sligo represented a genuine sign that Galway have re-established something of the rhythm which made them All-Ireland champions.

GALWAY: M McNamara; T Meehan, G Fahy, T Mannion; R Silke (c), J Divilly, S de Paor; K Walsh, S O Domhnaill; J Fallon, M Donnellan, N Finnegan; D Savage, P Joyce, J Donnellan.

MAYO: P Burke; A Higgins, K Cahill, G Morley; F Costello, D Heaney, N Connelly; D Brady, J Nallen; C McManamon, K Mortimer (c), J Casey; D Nestor, J Horan, M Sheridan.

Referee: B White (Wexford).