Two-time All-Ireland winner Kevin Walsh expects a confident Galway ahead of this Sunday's All-Ireland football final against Armagh.
Walsh, himself a former Galway manager, has some insight on what his former team-mate Padraic Joyce brings to the Tribesmen's camp.
"Someone was asking me about the difference in the two managers come Sunday," says Walsh. "I think one will be a bit more flamboyant, one will be stepping back a little bit.
"We all know Padraic for years and what he will bring is total confidence. He will love, and thrive on, these situations.
"He'll also be his own man in what he wants to do and I'm sure he's got that total picture in his head of what he's going to do, even next Sunday."
Joyce and Walsh won two All-Ireland titles during their playing careers, in 1998 and 2001. While Galway have failed to win a Celtic Cross in the 23 years since, Walsh feels Joyce will be optimistic of victory.
"Padraic won't be lacking confidence in this, he will feel the team is very well prepared - and it's looking like it is on the pitch.
"I think it's heading for the 10th game, which is a huge amount of games, unbeaten; they have beaten the Leinster champions, the Ulster champions, the league winners, the league runners-up, the Division 2 league winners, and the Division 2 league runners-up are coming next.
"That'll breed massive confidence, and Pádraic will be showing massive confidence with the players.
"I'm sure even three games ago there was no talk about going on and not winning the All-Ireland. I think they've learned the lessons of two years ago, they have more experience, he would have been mentioning that for the last number of games, winning an All-Ireland - not just beating Dublin or Donegal.
Walsh is quick to point out the increase in experience and depth of the panel as 'one of the biggest things' for the Tribesmen when comparing their current squad to the one that lost the 2022 All-Ireland final to Kerry.
"I think one thing that has happened from a Galway point of view is the bench seems to be stronger. When we look around the last 15 minutes in 2022, the bench wasn’t as strong as it is now and I don’t think they had a lot of impact coming off the bench.
"I suppose there was a transitional period going on at the time and a few players maybe for the midfield area in particular in that game could have livened it up a bit and would have made a difference. But I think they are in a really good place for that now.
"You’ve got Cian Darcy coming in there, Matthew Tierney is a bit older, Cillian McDaid who can play out there, you’ve got John Maher who has been a revelation this year.
"So there is plenty of options on the bench and that is one of the biggest things."
The 2020 Under-20 All-Ireland football winning team have proven fruitful for Joyce with a number of players progressing through to the senior panel including the full-back line of Johnny McGrath, Seán Fitzgerald and Jack Glynn.
All are expected to start this Sunday and in doing so would be a repeat of the full-back line that took to the field in an empty Croke Park in December 2020.
"It's brilliant," said Walsh.
"There's a small resemblance of when we won our first All-Ireland in '98 ourselves, where a number of U21s came straight through, and they went through at 21 not 24, so it's not unknown.
"Look it's brilliant for the future aswell that so many of those guys are coming through."
The current Cork selector is no stranger to this Galway side, serving as manager from 2015 to 2019. He takes satisfaction from having worked with a number of players that will take to the field this weekend
"A lot of these players would have gone through our hands at the very start", he explained.
"The U20s obviously came after us, but I suppose a lot of guys came through from our own time.
"Maybe we got a bit of flak at the time for changing the style of football in Galway. You take a bit of satisfaction, that is what it is, and that is what it has gone to as well to a degree.
"Some of the players would have been very young when we were there, bar a few, Paul Conroy, for instance. McDaid was only starting out, Finnerty was only starting to come through, but they got a little bit of what we were trying to do at the time.
Walsh adds, "Any active part you have in helping Galway football is great."
When asked about his recent experiences with Cork he is quick to point out their development during the 2023 and 2024 seasons under John Cleary.
"It was kind of an open book when we went in there, as in they were maybe crying out for a different outside voices and stuff like that.
"It's new and as I said at the start, it's important that every team gets themselves in a position that they're continuously competing to win.
"If you're in that area - Cork last year, bar the first Donegal game, their biggest loss was four points, the next was three points to Kerry away, four points was the black card and however many missed opportunities against Tyrone.
"They're fighting in that area, and when everybody looks back at the end of this year with Kerry and Dublin gone fairly early, a lot of people will put themselves in the pack for next year, to say, 'Hold on, we've got a chance here.'
It's important to be there, ready to compete.
Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final, Armagh v Galway, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
