Peter Canavan believes the nature of the rivalry between Mayo and Galway will make for an enthralling Allianz Football League Division 1 final despite the looming distraction of an early start to the All-Ireland championship.
Mayo have a quick turnaround between Sunday's decider and their Connacht Championship fixture against Roscommon the following weekend, with Galway awaiting the winner on 22 April.
But Canavan reckons the rivalry between the Connacht powerhouses and the relative lack of national titles - Mayo's 2019 league triumph aside - in the last two decades means that both sides will look to seize the day rather than being pragmatic in pursuit of longer-term targets.
"I think the two teams will be up for it. They're not in a position to be sniffing at national league titles and especially in Croke Park," he said on the RTÉ GAA Podcast.
"And there's no love lost between the the two sides. It's very unfair that Mayo have a week's turnaround, there's no doubt about that. But there is nothing they can do about that now.
"If Armagh or Donegal had the choice, I'm sure they'd rather be in Mayo's shoes. I'm sure the two teams will go at it and I think we're in for a good final."
It is set up to be an intriguing tactical battle given the statistical trends that have been applying to both teams and the lessons from their meeting at the start of the league, according to Canavan.
"Galway have conceded only 81 points in their seven games. That's the lowest of all the teams in Division 1 and Mayo have scored 126, probably the highest," he said.
"So the best team going forward is going to be playing the best defensive set-up. In the very first game that they played, we covered it and it was a brilliant game.
"At times it was tight, at times there was open football in it but it was extremely competitive.
"But I thought that day that Mayo, for a team that was just out, we weren't very certain of their style of play.
"They had Aidan O'Shea in but they weren't kicking a lot of ball in to him. Galway were able to vary their tactics much more that day.
"But they still didn't beat Mayo and in the rest of the games, despite their injuries, I've been most impressed with Galway in terms of their game management. They're now a streetwise team which they definitely weren't two or three years ago when Pádraic Joyce came in.
"He thought he had the firepower just to go at anybody and play a more open brand. He has quickly sussed that out and I really like the way they're shutting opposition down and when they get everybody back on the pitch, they're going to be a serious animal moving forward. Likewise we know the serious progress Mayo have made and we know their style of play."
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