With Galway captain Seán Kelly injured and before that, deployed in the half forward line or midfield, Johnny McGrath is now Pádraic Joyce's number one man marker.
So far in this year's championship the Caherlistrane corner back has marked Derry's Shane McGuigan, Mayo's Ryan O'Donoghue, Sligo's Niall Murphy and moved onto London's standout performer Shay Rafter in the opening round of Connacht.
In those four games he has conceded just seven points from play or marks, up against two of the top five scorers in Division One of the league and the third top scorer in Division Three. All in just his second season as a starter.
The pacy young corner back is joined by Seán Fitzgerald and Jack Glynn in the Galway full-back this year – the last line of the 2020 All-Ireland winning Under-20 side re-united. Of the four provincial champions the Tribesmen have the lowest average concession of 0-13, and along with Donegal are the only team who have yet to concede a goal (penalty shootouts aside) remaining in the championship.
Yet with Westmeath up next and their main man up top being the physically imposing ball-winning machine John Heslin, the defensive match-ups in Cusack Park will provide an insight into who will mark who if Galway are to contest the latter stages of this year's All-Ireland.
So far this championship teams have kicked only five high balls in on top of the Galway backline. The only forward over 6ft who McGrath has faced is McGuigan, and from the two high balls directed towards him the Derry man caught both cleanly. With one leading to a free he converted himself, and the other a goal chance.
So will Galway put McGrath on Heslin, something they opted against last year, and likewise when Con O'Callaghan came to Salthill during the league. Or will they run the risk of not assigning their best marker to the opposition's main scorer because of a threat which materialises itself so rarely in the modern game. It'll be a big dilemma for Joyce.
McGrath made his first championship start in last season's opener and has played in every game for Galway since. Even last summer he was being handed crucial assignments, holding Darragh Canavan scoreless from play in the All-Ireland group stage, and then O'Donoghue to 0-02.
McGrath kept Darragh Canavan scoreless from play in the league
During this year's league he's caught the eye again, as well as keeping McGuigan and O'Donoghue scoreless from play, Canavan to two points, Roscommon's Ben O'Carroll to one point, and Jack McCarron to 0-02 from play and marks, he's also driven forward to kick three points himself. Those listed are the five main scorers for their teams, yet against Dublin McGrath wasn't put on O'Callaghan who scored 0-9 (5f) on Fitzgerlad, while the towering David Clifford only came on for the final quarter against Kerry.
A sprinter with Galway City Harriers in his younger years, McGrath has the top-end pace, dynamism, tenacity, and the laser focus to stay with a variety of forwards. Sligo full-forward Murphy drifted out the field and looked to shoot on the loop. His 25 involvements resulted in a huge point from distance, a good mark, two assists and two wides from outside of the shooting zone. With London dominated by Galway, Rafter was living off scraps but impressed in the first half of the provincial opener. With McGrath tracking him however he was turned over twice within seven involvements. He still pointed under pressure from a tight angle and won a converted free.
O'Donoghue remained in the forward line much more than Murphy, where McGrath did well to stick with his constant changes of direction forcing two turnovers within 12 involvements. The Mayo forward still kicked a mark and a point from distance.
McGuigan got away for just 10 involvements, winning a free which he scored himself, assisting another point, and scoring one from a tight angle falling over while the other was forced onto his weaker right foot with maroon jerseys all around him.
So of the seven points McGrath conceded all were worked very hard for and three were marks, with the latter highlighting an area where opposition players can target the Galway defender. But committing to this runs the risk of what happened after McGuigan's missed goal attempt. After plucking the high delivery and having his shot saved, Galway countered and scored a goal at the other end.
Last month, Derry landed two more high balls on top of midfielder Conor Glass, while Sligo put in one sliced delivery on top of Murphy which came to nothing. London and Mayo – even with Aidan O'Shea inside – didn't kick in any long high kickpass.
During his time as Galway's primary marker, Kelly was comfortable against opponents of all sizes. Yet even if he was fit this weekend, so far this year he's lined out at midfield, centre forward and left half forward.
The rationale appears to be to get one of their best players out of the full back line, and more involved in attacking movements. However his contributions to date suggest it's also with defence in mind that he's now lining out in attack.
The Moycullen club man made 68 per cent of his total 31 defensive actions so far this championship within his own half. If Galway lose possession Kelly is back to form the first line of their defensive block in a half back zone. Within these actions however the 27 year-old has made just four turnovers highlighting his new focus on covering danger areas.
Here he has to decide when to engage, when to cover, when to tag a man, and allows the half backs to form another line of traffic in front of the fullbacks, bunching the scoring zone. Sometimes freeing the likes of Liam Silke to man mark with somebody else dropping in.
Kelly scored the first goal against Derry, and provided the crucial turnover to keep Galway in the game against Mayo as they chased a late score to equalise and then win it. A turnover and subsequent line break led to the opening goal against London, while his four possessions and line break saw the game out in injury time against Sligo.
Those leadership moments aside, Kelly is averaging less than 16 on-the-ball involvements per game, with just 10 against Mayo when in the half forward line. The outlier was in the win over Sligo when he had 21 at midfield. He played midfield in the wins over London and Sligo, and then was set to drop from 11 against Mayo but struggled for any impact when Donnacha McHugh man marked him.
But from left half-forward he is able to cut into the play from the wing and his defensive covering is simplified on the wing side. Despite his reduced involvements 81 per cent of them have been in the opposition half which means while his change of position has reduced his time on the ball and changed his defensive role, it's been successful in getting him involved higher up the pitch.
So looking ahead to the Armagh game and possibly beyond, it's fair to assume Kelly will be providing crucial cover rather than taking back over from McGrath. Who has already shown what he can do, but will he be Galway's new man for all sizes?
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