GALWAY CAN GO UP AN EXTRA GEAR

IT WON’T be until around five o’clock that we’ll know which team handled the pressure best. The big gap back to that last AllIreland senior title is very relevant for both sides. Waterford have to go back to 1959, a lifetime. Think of all the great players who have come and gone since and never won an All-Ireland.

For Galway, the double of 1987-88 has been there in the background with every near miss.

Then you have the subplot of Joe Canning versus Austin Gleeson, two blinding talents chasing a medal.

We also have long-serving warriors like Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh and Kevin Moran, who have the painful memory of the 2008 final to spur them on.

Galway have the added aspect of Tony Keady’s passing and bridging a gap to the team he starred on to such effect.

That’s before you get to the unique nature of this pairing which has led to the ticket frenzy which has been crazy.

Handling the pressure of final day and all those various aspects is vital to a player doing himself justice on the day and a team’s grand plan coming together.

Clare have been a wonderful example of how you can come from nowhere to land the big one, 1995 and 2013 being the perfect examples.

Not having any baggage can be a good thing. Galway have the experience but the baggage too that comes with so many being involved in the defeats of 2012 or 2015.

We know what we’re going to get with Waterford, they have vast experience in players like Noel Connors, Pauric and Philip Mahony, Walsh, Kevin Moran. Manager Derek McGrath has a well marshalled defensive system. Allied to that is the genius of Austin Gleeson who is capable of hitting 1-6 from play and winning this one on his own. The bench as well is very forward orientated and McGrath times his substitutions carefully.

Galway boss Micheál Donoghue is is cool, calm and stands back. He’s had three weeks to think of matchups, how Galway will react when Maurice Shanahan or Brian O’Halloran is introduced.

Joe Canning is Galway’s matchwinner, as he showed in the semifinal against Tipperary. David Burke is a very stylish player around the middle and Aidan Harte an excellent reader of the game if he is the loose man at the back as expected.

Jason Flynn and Niall Burke offer a different mix of finishing and ballwinning ability off the bench.

It’s a big call to start Jonathan Glynn, given it’s two years since he started a Championship game before moving to New York. But it’s the right call. Surely the Galway forward line is the tallest to ever play in an All-Ireland final? Two at 6’4”, three at 6’2”, along with ‘little’ Conor Whelan at 6’0”!

Glynn will help Galway find a way at getting at a sweeper-protected defence.

Darragh Fives was brilliant in his own way mopping up ball but Patrick Horgan got a lot of ball for Cork.

Conor Whelan and Conor Cooney will be criss-crossing inside, trying to create the space.

The other big factor is in terms of physicality. Against Wexford and Cork in particular, Derek McGrath got his match ups spot-on. That won’t happen against Galway who match Waterford in the physical stakes and in terms of big-match experience.

I think Galway have more flair players and that will make a difference. They are so much stronger defensively than Cork.

If Galway can build up a four or five-point cushion 55 minutes into the game, then Waterford will have to push up and leave more space. Waterford’s system will be hard to break down. How Galway go about it will be key.

At the end of the day, great hurlers find a way. If Canning drops deep, does the centre-back go with him? Do Galway play five up front to create a bit of extra space, knowing the middle third is going to be congested? Conor Gleeson too will be sorely missed as a man-marker.

When Waterford first came with the sweeper, they had a solid defensive plan but very little in terms of an offensive one – it looked like a case of shoot from distance or just hit it up the field. They’ve evolved so much from that, the scoring of Moran and Jamie Barron from midfield and even Walsh showing how they have much more of a threat.

There’s no denying that the quarter-final against Wexford was a poor spectacle but compared to the team that first reached an All-Ireland semi-final in 2015, they have come on light years in terms of their scoring threat with the timed impact from the bench being a feature of their development this summer.

Waterford’s sweeper system certainly puts the pressure on the Leinster champions to be mentally strong in the face of the challenge posed.

Galway have been so close to Kilkenny and Tipperary when they have been winning All-Irelands in recent years.

The Allianz League final performance is still arguably the performance of the year.

They have a bit more in the tank, a bit more flair, more scoring power.

Galway to win.