Inside the Mayo camp there is no complacency that it is a matter of just showing up tomorrow evening and claiming the Tom Markham Cup.
Despite beating Galway twice already this year in the Connacht championship, in the round robin stage and again in the provincial final, none of that will matter come Friday evening according to their manager Sean Deane.
“I think, first and foremost - the game down in Tuam and I said it at the time, the lay off for Galway didn’t do them any favours.
“It was a different Galway team to a certain extent, they improved for the Connacht final, so that was a different team effectively that we played in the Connacht final and incrementally they have improved since the Connacht final.
“Obviously their game against Dublin and against Derry (we saw that ) and we are expecting a real, real battle here and the two previous games have absolutely no relevance at all, because they were different types of games and as I said they have improved incrementally game on game and we know we have to be better than any game we have been in so far this season.”
When asked was he surprised at all that Galway had made it through to face his side in the final in Hyde Park on Friday, Deane said : “Absolutely not, Galway are a very good team and I said down at the game in Tuam that that was not the real Galway and I am not surprised that they came through. Fantastic team great footballers and some real, real talent in that squad.”
As for two Connacht sides making the All Ireland final, he added that it shows the strength of football in the province and the work being done in counties. “I think it is great, to be totally straight it is lovely for Connacht to have an All-Ireland final to be played in the Hyde with Mayo and Galway, after the round robin element what comes out is the two best teams will come out and it has proven to be that the two best teams at this juncture are Mayo and Galway.”
Not only have the counties faced each other in championship twice this season, the players have also done battle in schools' competitions in the recent past too adding an extra layer of familiarity between the sides that has to be navigated the Breaffy clubman acknowledged.
“I know St Colman’s played Claregalway in a Connacht final so there would have been a lot of guys on the pitch that day that will play Friday week so you are 100 per cent right they know each other inside out, which I suppose is a good thing, or we think is a good thing.”
With this final taking place in Hyde Park rather than Croke Park, Deane said he would have liked for the final to have been in GAA headquarters for the players, but they don’t mind where they take on Galway now the decision has been made.
“I think for these guys to get the opportunity to play in Croke Park would have been nice, for the simple reason, that minor games have always been curtain raisers to the senior games.
“But there is a decision being made with that regards the age group being U17 and the pressure that it will bring on young fellas. I can understand that to a certain extent the other aspect of that is if it is going to be an early throw in, you are into logistics of overnights and you’re taking the age profile of these guys 16 or 17 into the equation, maybe in hindsight it might not have been the best thing to be in Croke Park, even though I did say that is where I would like it for the lads, but we are delighted it is in the Hyde.
“Our guys have been on the road for the want of a better word since January, 2 it would have been nice it isn’t the case; we have moved on from it, not something we discussed in any shape or form. We are going to play Galway on a patch of grass and two goalposts and we don’t really care where it is, we are just mad looking forward to the game."
