The Galway minor footballers, under the guidance of team manager John Donnellan, face Mayo in the Connacht semi-final on Sunday (1.30pm ) in Hyde Park.
Mayo had a good win last weekend over Leitrim and that game will give them a slight advantage over Galway, having had a championship outing under their belts.
That said, Donnellan and his selectors PJ Kelly, Enda Daly, Cathal Blake and Seamus Burke, have put in Trojan work over the past five months to try to have the Galway panel in tip-top shape for the championship and they impressed during the league campaign.
Donnellan believes the Galway panel is in fine fettle to have a right cut at getting a win this weekend.
"Thankfully we have no injury worries and have a full panel to pick from for Sunday,” he says. “ We have a terrific group of lads involved on the panel and they have done everything that has been asked of them all year.
"Mayo are favourites, and with St Gerald’s winning the Connacht colleges and Davitt College winning the vocational title, we know they have a very good team. It was a very tight game between us in the league and this encounter is likely to be very similar. However, we really believe in our squad and, if we get the rub of the green, we will be there or thereabouts."
This Sunday is knockout football but, if Galway are to advance, they will be looking to team captain Eoghan McCormack (Ballinasloe ), Richie Fahy (Headford ), James Healy (Annaghdown ), Cathal Reilly (Corofin ), Jason Lyons (Barna ), Michael Daly (Mountbellew-Moylough ) and Brian Shaughnessy (Ballinasloe ) to provide solid performances.
Galway have not won a Connacht minor championship title since 2007, which is far too long, and the past five minor titles in the province have been shared between Mayo and Roscommon.
Hopefully this young group of Galway men will take a step towards changing that disappointing statistic this Sunday.
