Corofin are 1/12 to win next Sunday's county final at Tuam Stadium (4pm ), with St Michael's available at 8/1, and Mulholland's is offering the city side an 11 point (+11 ) handicap at 10/11, supporting the view of most pundits that Corofin will reign supreme.
However, no one would have expected Ireland to score a late late goal against Germany on Tuesday night to draw with World Champions Germany either, so only a foolish individual believes there is such a thing as a definite result in any sporting encounter.
It is difficult to look past a Corofin win, but if St Michael's are to produce the shock of the decade, they will need to win the following three duels to do so.
Eddie Hoare v Kieran Fitzgerald
Hoare kicked 0-5 (0-4fs ) last weekend against Barna and he is the key man in the St Michael's forward division.
If he was nullified, it is impossible to see John Kenny's men hitting a match winning tally.
Hoare is a strong man and is difficult to dispossess if he gathers the ball.
His running style is a tad unorthodox and he has a unique style of bouncing the O' Neill's, but if he is on form he is capable of hitting some stunning scores from distance from both frees and play.
He comes up against Corofin's foundation stone at full-back and the 2001 All-Star was a massive loss last year in the club's narrow defeat to Castlebar as he was out with injury.
If Hoare can rattle Fitzgerald, it would be a massive boost for his side and would give them huge belief, while doing the opposite to the Corofin rearguard.
Frank Daly v Ronan Steede
Daly has been in superb form for St Michael’s and was man-of-the-match in their drawn game with Barna.
He gets through a load of work and links the halfbacks and forwards effectively and uses the ball well.
Steede has lots of talent and is very strong in the air and has a good engine. He is a player who has been on and off the county panel over the past few years and a powerful showing on Sunday could see him being considered by Kevin Walsh for the 2015 season.
John Hansbury v Micheal Lundy
Lundy is vital to Corofin's cause.
The Galway star wing-forward has pace to burn and his incisive and penetrating runs are really hard to track and cover.
He has improved enormously in the past year as evidenced by his top-class display and goal against Kerry in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Both Lundy and Gary Sice at 10 and 12 are two of Corofin's key players
Hansbury has impressed the few times I have seen him this season, and he has both pace and stamina. If he can quieten Lundy, he will have done a huge job in trying to see St Michael's reach the promised land.
