Picking most teams at any level is a difficult exercise, unless of course you have absolute stand-out players like Ja Fallon, Padraic Joyce, Sean Og De Paor, Tomas Mannion, Michael Donnellan, Derek Savage and company, in their prime.Then it is just a matter of handing out the jerseys and letting the talented guys show the world how they have been blessed by God and mother-nature.
However, and this is the dilemma facing Liam Sammon and his management team for the 2009 championship, when you have a few stand-out players and then a lot of players of similar ability, it can be a tough call to decide who goes where.
Galway won the Connacht championship final last season under the current management team on a score-line of 2-12 to 1-14, but it must be remembered that Mayo allowed them a huge lead at the start of that final and such success is far from a sure thing this summer.
Indeed Mayo have impressed in the past few weeks, and with a scattering of talented u-21s in their squad, some would feel they are the team to beat in Connacht.
If both sides progress to another Connacht final in Pearse Stadium, there will probably be only a kick of a ball between the sides again and team selection could prove vital.
Here I set out the starting team I would pick – assuming all the panel of players are available for selection – to do battle in the up-coming championship.
If you disagree – sorry. When you disagree with my selection in some cases, feel free to forward your team selection to [email protected] or [email protected] for comparison and perhaps publication over the coming weeks.
