This evening in Athenry (7.0) one of the championship's stranger rituals takes place. Roscommon and Galway have been doing this since 1995 (1994 if you count the year Roscommon were All-Ireland B champions) but the Connacht hurling final never even hints at a sensation. Roscommon take it in good part and like to measure themselves in senior championship play but it's hard to see the specific benefits of it for them.

This year there is some anxiety about the intentions of manager Michael Conneely should Roscommon get hammered. Conneely, the former Galway All-Ireland goalkeeper, has helped bring a degree of respectability to Roscommon's cause both in terms of National Hurling League performance - a creditable third behind Derry and Wicklow - and the ability to attract decent challenges, to say nothing of helping maintain the Connacht Council's patience with the whole enterprise.

Yet the league statistic tells you all you need to know about the county's standing. Trading strokes with the inhabitants of Division Two is scarcely a preparation for the sort of opposition provided by Galway. Most interest centres on Matt Murphy's Galway selection with the return of Joe Cooney and Joe Rabbitte.

Last year's match was more competitive than expected and Conneely was pleased with the gutsy display. Moreover, 3-13 would win most matches - although as the summer progressed, it could be seen that the Roscommon score told us more about Galway than their opponents.

The Roscommon stalwarts are there: Colm Kelly, Adrian Kelly and Micky Cunniffe, but the main question will be how fit Cooney looks at midfield, how plausible Fergus Flynn turns out to be beside him, how easily Cathal Moore slips back into the centre back berth and in what sort of condition Rabbitte is at centre forward.

Even the answers to those questions will be qualified by the circumstances.