MAYO'S full back, Kevin Cahill, was not too disappointed to hear that veteran Val Daly was not included when Galway's team to play Mayo in the Connacht football final in Castlebar on Sunday was announced. He remembers last year's final in Roscommon vividly when his direct opponent, Daly, popped the ball over the bar five times in the course of the game as Galway ran out winners by 0-17 to 1-7.

"He gave me a bit of a nightmare that day and l thought they would try the same thing again, so l am a bit relieved," said Cahill yesterday and added: "I suppose they will put him in at some stage. If they do, I'll be ready. I have a debt to repay.

"I'm not sure what his problem is but he has been injured for a while. As well as that Galway seem to believe that it is best not to change a winning combination."

The 24 year old defender has grown in confidence since he was first introduced to the team in the reign of Jack O'Shea. He has developed into an impressive fullback in the stylish mode for which Mayo has been famous.

His battles with Daly have not been his most successful ventures but this has made him all the more determined to set the record straight. One gets the feeling that his relief at Daly's absence was tinged with a little regret that his opportunity to get his own back may have eluded him.

Cahill, who works as an accountant in Ballaghadereen, believes that Mayo are in much better shape than last year. "Our preparation has been very good," he says. "We have toned down a bit now but John Maughan is a hard task master as you would expect from an Army man. It was very regimental at times but he got a good response and the morale is very high."

The tough training schedule supervised by Maughan has borne fruit, Cahill believes, and nothing has been left to chance. The lessons learned in the matches against London and Roscommon have been put to good use, he says.

He believes that those games helped to develop team work and understanding among the players. "London surprised us by their organisation and it took us a while to break them down. We were in a `no win' situation but we were happy enough at the end.

"The match against Roscommon was very untidy and not very attractive to watch. We will he hoping for a more open stylish match against Galway. If this weather holds out, it will suit us and the kind of football we play.

"We have some of the most stylish players in the game like Liam McHale, Colm McMenamon and Ray Dempsey. On a firm pitch with a dry ball I believe that we can play the type of football which can beat Galway. We have done all the work and we are confident that we can reverse last year's result."

Last year's final between the two sides was a huge disappointment as far as the standard of football was concerned, with supporters moving away from the match long before the end, and a goal by Ray Dempsey just before full time merely served to take the bad look off the scoreboard.

During the game Mayo were reckoned to have shot 18 wides, many of them from comparatively easy positions in good weather conditions.

Galway went on to lose to Tyrone by 1-13 to 0-13 in the All Ireland semi final. It was a heartening performance. Galway feel that they have built on this and believe that they can improve on that performance and break a losing sequence for Connacht teams since they completed their three in a row feat back in the sixties.

With this in mind they have named an unchanged side which explains why Daly has not been included.