Having lost two All-Ireland finals in three years, Galway are like "men on a mission" this year in their pursuit of Sam Maguire, says Éamonn Fitzmaurice.
Those losses to Kerry and Armagh, with the latter reverse the most crushing, are no doubt an added incentive for Pádraig Joyce's squad to end the county's 24-year wait for an All-Ireland title.
Injuries, which threatened to derail their season last year, have more or less cleared up. It's very much a case of now of never, as former Kerry player and manager Fitzmaurice outlined on the latest edition of the RTÉ GAA Podcast.
"Galway have the feel of a team who are on a mission," he said.
"They have been in finals over the last couple of years and the Americans have that expression about a championship window where a team have a window where they need to get it done and Galway are in that window.
"They still have the likes of Paul Conroy who is central but he is pushing on. Remarkable as it seems, the likes of Shane Walsh and Damien Comer are in their 30s. So they have a very strong, settled group and I think they are men on a mission this year. They will appreciate that that window is closing and you have a period to get it done."
Having a fit squad to pick from, given what's at the Tribesmen's disposal, will no doubt aid their cause, says Fitzmaurice
"This time last year they were doing remarkably well to be competing as well as they were considering all of the injuries. It was the way they managed the injuries, with Damien Comer mentioning this week in the bit of media work he did that he was training very little and then trying to play in matches. He said he was disappointed with his form.
"I know going back to when I was involved with Kerry, if players weren't training it's almost like a scientific formula, they are not going to be able to play at the level they need to play at to really express themselves.
"A fully-fit Galway, having those players training and going, will take a lot of stopping."
On Sunday, Galway host Roscommon in the Connacht semi-final, with The Sunday Game analyst expecting Joyce's troops "to go hard", to maintain the stranglehold they've had on the province in recent seasons.
"They are at home and Pádraig Joyce is always hungry for silverware. He was anxious to get into a league final but it didn't quite work out. They have a run in Connacht now, a kind of dominance, and he'll be anxious to keep that going.
"I do think it will be a massive battle. Roscommon will bring loads. We know about their attack but whether they'll be able to hold it out at the back is the thing. Will they be able to deal with Comer, especially if Galway use him in the way they used him the night of his cameo against the Dubs?
"That will be worth the admission fee alone if they are using him in that manner. If he's fit, man nor God won't hold him back after the couple of years he's had with injuries."
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Watch Roscommon v Galway in the Connacht Football Championship on Sunday from 3.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
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