RTÉ GAA analyst Dessie Dolan believes Galway have both the nous and the tools to stymie Roscommon's attacking threats in Sunday’s Connacht SFC final.
Mark Dowd's Rossies have scored freely in their wins over New York and Mayo en route to the final – racking up 7-47 across the two games – but speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast, Dolan pointed to the likes of Johnny McGrath, Dylan McHugh and Seán Kelly as reasons why Roscommon will find it hard to replicate their scoring heroics at King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park.
"Galway are going for five in a row - Paul Conroy's there, John Maher, Matthew Tierney, big, physical men around the middle," Dolan said.
"Galway generally do OK at midfield and I think that’s where Roscommon really capitalised against Mayo, winning the primary possession off kick-outs.
"In terms of match-ups, I don’t expect Enda Smith to be as dominant in terms of running the show, creating opportunities. He’ll be tagged and he’ll be tagged tightly.
"Equally Diarmuid Murtagh scoring 1-10 (against Mayo), the big question in that instance is who’s marking Diarmuid Murtagh and how is he getting so many shots away and why is there not someone tightening down on him?
"That’s the type of management Padráic Joyce is very good at. David Morris is his stats guy and the trainer and coach with him, they’ll know the key threats and they’ll know what to stop."
Ciarán Whelan, meanwhile, has been mightily impressed with Roscommon’s progress, but he too feels they could see one of their strengths from the semi-final – in this case midfield dominance – severely weakened.
"When you look at Roscommon, maybe at the start of the year in the league when they’re performing well you’re wondering was it early season, have they the work done and were others maybe going to catch up with them.
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"I saw them against Dublin and they were really poor but then they showed great resilience against Donegal in the league when the game was going against them, the weather factors were against them.
"Mark Dowd has built a bit of resilience in them; their second-half performance against Mayo was top drawer. Probably the likes of (Colm) Neary in full-forward coming back around the field, (Darragh) Heneghan kicking 1-03 – new players that are stepping up for them.
"But it was all backed up by a dominant midfield performance and linking that with Enda Smith. Enda Smith is brilliant at winning a break off a long kick-out. When they get the ball to him he has vision and he can pick out a pass and he can find someone and make something happen. He was brilliant in that game as well.
"They will be looking to back up that performance.
"Galway, on the other hand, are coming into this game on the back of a poor performance against Leitrim.
"Padráic Joyce would have been able to give them a good kick in the last few weeks. Does he know his best side? It’s probably the biggest question mark. They will match them better around the middle of the park than Mayo did, they have much more strength in that area.
"Then it really depends on the forward line he picks. Will he keep the lines of (Shane) Walsh and (Damien) Comer in reserve to give them something a bit different, a bit of an X factor?
"Galway never lack character, fight and spirit and they never throw in the towel. Even when they play poorly they can win games."
Watch Kerry v Cork in the Munster Football final (1.45pm) and Roscommon v Galway in the Connacht Football final (4.15pm) on Sunday from 1.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch Wexford v Dublin in the Leinster Hurling Championship on Saturday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
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