Galway captain Paul Conroy believes the Tribesmen’s time has come to knock Mayo off the summit in Connacht, but first they must overcome the challenge that Leitrim pose in Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday.
The two sides meet in the Connacht SFC quarter-final at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada this weekend with a semi-final spot against champions Mayo up for grabs to the winner.
Mayo have dominated Connacht football in recent years having racked up four-successive titles while Galway have to go back to 2008 for the last time a maroon jersey hoisted the Nestor Cup.
Conroy was lucky enough to be in that squad from '08 as a youngster and now, in his second year as Galway captain, believes the current crop of players under the tutelage of new manager Kevin Walsh can mount a serious challenge to the Red and Green’s supremacy.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Conroy said: “Mayo have been the benchmark in Connacht for the last couple of years and they’ve been very unlucky not to win an All-Ireland or two.
“But we’ve good young lads who’ve won two under-21 All-Ireland’s in the last five years, so we’re trying to drive that on and bring it through to the senior level.
“Mayo have been dominant the last couple of years and it’s up to us now to change that.”
Next up though is Leitrim with the Tribesmen fresh from a convincing 2-18 to 0-08 over New York in Gaelic Park last weekend in their provincial preliminary-round clash.
Conroy is confident of progressing past the 1994 Connacht champions and teeing up a Mayo semi-final, though nothing is being taken for granted in the Galway camp.
“Leitrim up in Carrick-on-Shannon – they won’t be lying down too lightly,” said Conroy.
“We’ll have to take every hurdle as they come. So we’ll be going there and trying to deliver a professional performance.”
Assuming that bridge is crossed, then Conroy and his team-mates can switch focus to 14 June and halt Mayo’s bid to emulate the five-in-a-row side of 1906-10.
Follow all Sunday's GAA action from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 Television, via our live blog on on RTÉ.ie and RTÉ News Now, live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 and streaming worldwide via GAAGO.
