MUNSTER SFC FINAL
Cork v Kerry, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, 4.0.
KERRY have within a comparatively short space of time, assembled a wide range of memories at this venue. Edged out in the League quarter final last March in the championship they have also thrown away a winning position (1994), run riot (1992) and been destroyed (1990 with the Cork crowd shouting at Kerry fans leaving early, "lock the gates and make the f..... watch").
Two tough encounters with Clare should have been ideal preparation for Cork but there is a prevailing suspicion that instead of being set up for the final, the champions are instead unnerved at coming so close to defeat and since beating Kerry in March, their performances have been flat.
Kerry haven't had the sort of matches that tell selectors much about a team but even against Tipperary and Waterford problems arose. If all the things that went right continue to do so, Kerry will fly through but sterner questions are likely to be asked.
A more sustained performance is required from the forwards. In the championship to date, a bit too much of the scoring has come in the dying stages when weaker teams, tend to become knackered. Maurice Fitzgerald and Billy O'Shea give the half forward line a punchier look than last year when the pair were on the inside line. There is good scoring potential in the attack but it needs to be more assertive from the off.
Assuming the recovery of Seamus Moynihan from a ham string injury is complete, Kerry's midfield has a more mobile look, compared with Cork's more statuesque pairing of Liam Honohan and Danny Culloty. Ironically, if Culloty fails a fitness test, Cork could counter the problem by playing Fachtna Collins, captain of UCD's Sigerson winning team.
Kerry also have options with Maurice Fitzgerald available to drop back to the middle where a strong body of opinion holds that more would be made of his considerable talents.
In defence, most scrutiny focuses on the location of Mike Hassett at full back. One of the best wing backs in the game, the Laune Rangers man didn't inspire on the edge of the square against Waterford. There are two explanations for the apparent inversion of roles between him and fit again Sean Burke, full back before injury and now centre back.
One is that it is a cod and the two will switch. The other possibility is that because Hassett didn't give Colin Corkery a kick last year in the corner, he is fancied to repeat the trick with the Corkman. This is risky because the demands of holding a corner forward differ a fair bit from those needed to restrain a big full forward.
Such minutiae aside, what has been the pattern of recent CorkKerry matches? Essentially, Cork have had the better team for quite a while and that probably hasn't changed just yet. As long as the counties delivered similar levels of performance, Cork would win.
With minimal raising of their game, Cork pulled away in the last two years to ease to victories that Kerry had well within their sights. Two years ago, Steven O'Brien revived Cork singlehandedly whereas last year Corkery, although silent in general play, place kicked them clear.
In the matches won by Kerry, 1991 and 92 - the winning efforts were founded on a fired up attitude and supplemented by the experience of All Ireland survivors Jack O'Shea and Ambrose O'Donovan. There is seldom so much between the counties, that the more wound up team won win.
The feeling that Kerry are on the verge of beating Cork in a Munster final for the first time in 10 years rests on two considerations.
Firstly, Cork are experiencing crises of form in too many positions. Corkery and Kavanagh haven't delivered top class championship performances for a long time. Mark O'Connor has had to move to the corner where he'll "have his work cut out to restrain Dara O Cinneide whose copious feats of finishing especially from the dead ball have liberated Maurice Fitzgerald this year.
Above all, Steven O'Brien is experiencing an unusual decline in form. His input has been so important in the past that any diminution in contribution will greatly encourage Kerry. Beside him, Ciaran O'Sullivan is still inspirational but deploying him to maximum effect requires an efficient unit and with O'Brien out of sorts and Corcoran re deployed, the half back line isn't what it was.
Secondly, with motivation counting for so much, Cork's listlessness will get them into trouble. Kerry, with Paidi O Se throwing the switches, are unlikely to be lacking in that regard. Questions about Kerry remain but they are taken to provide a sufficiency of answers.
CONNACHT SFC FINAL
Mayo v Galway, Castlebar, 3.15.
ELEVEN months ago, after Galway had made Tyrone's passage to the All Ireland final exceedingly difficult, the prospect of tomorrow's Connacht football final wouldn't have set pulses racing.
In the interim, however, the counties' paths have slightly converged. Mayo have appointed John Maughan as manager and improved their lot with a good League campaign whereas Galway resolutely (if that's the right word) declined to build on last summer's encouraging displays.
Championship progress to date favours the holders. While Mayo struggled past London, albeit that they registered some improvement when defeating Roscommon, Galway retraced last year's steps down to the detail of drawing with Sligo.
That protracted first round plus an energetic set to with Leitrim has again dragged Galway through a crash course of team preparation and they take the field at Castlebar tomorrow in confident form. Much of the confidence comes from last year but also from some good football in the semifinal.
That their relatively unflustered arrival in the final might cause overconfidence is a danger partially averted by a harder line selection policy that has emphasised fitness and form.
Val Daly, whose five points in the corresponding match last year were a major contribution to the victory, hasn't been hurried back after injury and management seems to have wearied of placing blind faith in Kevin Walsh to perform on big days.
Nonetheless, both are useful options to have on the bench. Walsh will be needed if Galway's more, mobile midfield begins to feel the need of some high fielding against Liam McHale and Donal Brady.
Elsewhere, Galway's strengths are the varied nature of their attack. Against Sligo, Shea Walsh was the star performer against Leitrim, Niall Finnegan. If doubts persist about Ian O'Donoghue, the wing backs Alan Mulholland and Sean Og de Paor are good footballers whose perceptive overlaps will both bolster midfield and pressurise James Horan and Maurice Sheridan.
Leitrim manager John O'Mahoney feels that Galway are vulnerable to being run at from deep positions and cites a number of scores from the semi final in support of his view.
Mayo's radical change in attack - replacing the whole full forward line wasn't that unpredictable, as John Casey's return from injury and Ray Dempsey's return to form guaranteed their recall. It was apparently a toss up between Anthony Finnerty and David Nestor for the other corner with Finnerty's experience and cuteness swinging the balance. For all the soundness of the reasoning, it's hard not, to, feel that there's a lack of convincing forward power.
The challengers are confident - they've beaten Galway three times this year - and happy that their low profile approach hasn't been much disrupted. It may be more of a tussle than generally expected but Mayo look critically short tip front and aren't as well covered as Galway in any area.
