Galway to feast ahead of famine

It has always been Galway's objective to get into the league final and the reason behind that is very simple. They want as many matches as possible before they go into the playing lull that comes to them every year.

They came through this league undefeated and were quite impressive throughout. The Galway selectors weren't entirely satisfied with the performance against Waterford in the semi-final but they still won, and that's all the matters.

The problem for Tipperary is that they come into this game with one eye on the league final and both eyes on the first round of the championship against Waterford two weeks later. It has to be said that I find it strange - and I know an awful lot of hurling counties agree - that the league final is so close to the championship. It's crazy that you can be in a league final and then face a crucial championship game two weeks later. Up to about seven or eight years ago winning the league was still a big thing, but now the championship is the only prize that matters.

The big talking point in Tipperary at the moment is the fact that John Leahy is not starting. What that means only time will tell. Declan Ryan has come back into centre forward alongside Mark O'Leary and Tommy Dunne, and they do seem to have a very young full-forward line in Paddy O'Brien and Ger Maguire, although Paul Shelley does balance that out.

Tipperary's performance against Limerick wasn't great, but nobody wants a great performance in April. All the training is geared towards the championship and the matches before that are a means towards an end, about finding out how good the players perform under pressure.

As for the game tomorrow, the ground for the last fortnight has been getting a lot harder, and as a result the ball will be moving a lot faster than anything we've seen this year. Tactically, Galway's play very much evolves around Joe Rabbitte. As soon as he gets the ball he lays it off, and centrefield also comes flying through. Their corner forwards are very fast, and up front they've even managed quite well without Eugene Cloonan. Tipperary play a little differently, so the contrast in styles will be very interesting.

Galway have a big full back in Brian Feeney and an equally big centre back in Cathal Moore. They mightn't have the biggest centre forward, but that doesn't matter because Rabbitte is there as well. He sends Galway's forwards all over the field and that makes it difficult for the opposition's backs to cover.

Still, Tipperary's full-back line is impressive - Liam Sheedy, Philip Maher and Michael Ryan. But this will be a different challenge for them. Ollie Canning and Fergal Healy will beat Sheedy and Maher for speed, no doubt about that, and these guys also have great ability to score.

Galway need this more, and they certainly have the hunger for it. They want to win the league, but it won't be a major setback if they lose, because they have so much time to recover for their All-Ireland quarter-final in August.

If Tipperary lose on Sunday, it won't bother them too much either. They will take the positive slant, realise that they are not playing as well as they can, and then return fired up for Waterford. If they win, they may even get a little complacent. To come out of Munster in the championship this year will be some achievement and Tipperary won't want to do anything wrong. Looking at some of the key match-ups, it will be very interesting to see how Eamonn Corcoran does on Joe Rabbitte and Paul Ormonde on Kevin Broderick. And at midfield, John Carroll and Brian O'Meara will have a very tough job on Alan Kerins and Rory Gantley - two very fast players.

Tipperary have some wonderful ball players. Maher at full back certainly impressed me the last day and Corcoran is very capable. Dunne will always win a lot of ball, but they will concede some speed advantage to Galway.

I expect to see a good game, but I don't expect to see a classic because there are greater things to come, particularly from Tipperary. It's a hard one to call for that reason, but with the championship so close for Tipperary, I expect Galway will have the greater hunger to prevail. They have great scoring ability and their confidence is high.

In an interview with Ian O'Riordan