The Galway pairing of David Tierney and Richie Murray is by far the younger but has been very impressive in the two games played this summer. What you have to look at as well, though, is the sort of games they have played in.

Before Galway beat Kilkenny they had played Derry, so you have to say they've only played one major match. Tipperary have come through the Munster championship and then a drawn match against Wexford, so they have been through a lot more tougher games this summer.

That is probably a bonus for Tipperary, but of course it could work out for the worse in that they have been going a longer time and may be getting tired. And although Galway have only had the one difficult game, against Kilkenny, they may have a little more hunger left.

But even though Tierney and Murray are both young I have no doubt they are up to the challenge. Young players seem to be different these days compared to my own era. We would go in to a final like this with fear in our hearts that we wouldn't play well, but these fellows seem to just take it in their strides and have no fear about not playing well. And so you don't get too many young players not playing well these days.

Like most of the team, the Galway midfielders are very fast and very skilful. I remember Tierney got a goal against us in Ballinasloe earlier in the year and I haven't seen the likes of it for a long time. It was a beautifully struck ground shot from 50 yards out, a great goal.

Tierney has made the decision now to concentrate on hurling and that has definitely paid off, but it had to. Hurling is such a skilful game you have to be playing it every day of the week. Football is a slower game and it means your reactions actually get slower. Alan Kerins is mixing the two now but I would wonder if you can successfully mix them. To be honest, I don't think you can.

The Tipperary pair are more experienced. Eddie Enright has some big games behind him and Tommy Dunne is captain this year, but so far he has been sound more than spectacular. Still, he will win a lot of ball at midfield, but I feel he'll have to do a little bit more in the final because at the end of the day, this is the one game where you have to raise your game beyond what you normally do. That makes it a psychological battle as well but the team that does that, especially at midfield, will win.