Connacht SFC Final Mayo v Galway
Ahead of the clash with Mayo, Keith Duggan talks to John O'Mahony's successor about his plans for Galway

Stealth could well be marked out as the key attribute of Peter Ford's style of management. Sligo, in a mean all-black ensemble, had already toppled Tyrone in Croke Park by the time people realised the kind of progression they had made under the Mayo man.

And tomorrow, Galway look to regain the Connacht championship to add to the All-Ireland Under-21 title acquired in the spring. And they have made it to this stage - a game away from the last eight in the championship - with scarcely a rumour.

Since filling the void left by John O'Mahony, Ford has been left to his own devices and has quietly gone about reinstating the sense of ambition and direction that underlined the previous administration.

"Flattered wouldn't be the right word," he said earlier this week, "but I was definitely delighted to be considered good enough to take over from John. I saw it as a chance for me to achieve my own aim. I never won an All-Ireland as a player and I would really like to win one as a manager. And that is how they think in Galway."

As an accomplished Mayo defender in the 1980s and early 1990s, Ford knows that his native county holds similar ambitions. Last year, he enjoyed Mayo's championship run "like a normal person".

He kept busy by training Ballinrobe and when Mayo football suddenly ignited, he was surprised by how much he enjoyed the sheer ordinariness of heading to Dublin for the weekend with a few friends. "Couple of drinks, nothing to do only go along and enjoy the match. It was just pure enjoyment."

Sligo took its toll. When he took up the position in 2001, Sligo football was still numb from an unholy walloping handed out by Galway in Markievicz Park, a game in which the home team just froze. Ford's first couple of months were like rehabilitation sessions, his chief interest being in rekindling a basic enjoyment in football. But he felt straight away he had sufficient talent to work with.

Sligo defeated Kildare in Croke Park that summer and stunned Tyrone a summer later. In 2002, they took Armagh to a replay and the Northern champions scraped by and went on to claim an historical first All-Ireland.

"I think we were regarded as a serious team at that point," Ford says now. "We had shown we could consistently live with the top counties. I do wonder what would have happened if we had got past Armagh. I'm not suggesting Sligo would have won the All-Ireland, but we were competitive and full of belief.

"The following year, maybe the ambition wasn't there and perhaps players realised they could not be as good again. It is hard to keep that momentum going in a small county."

In Galway, the situation was different. Although O'Mahony's departure effectively signalled the break-up of what might be described as Kevin Walsh's team, Ford was keen to make an early statement. The primary aim was to retake the Connacht Under-21 title.

"The whole thing was to reverse the Mayo dominance, not to allow any kind of inferiority complex to develop and to make the players realise that there are titles to be won."

The Galway-Mayo relationship is labyrinthine. Galway is a workplace for many Mayo people - Ford is a teacher in Headford. St Jarlath's was a popular boarding school among Mayo families. Galway footballers have played for Mayo and vice verse. In terms of Gaelic football, the relationship down the years has been warm and fierce.

"Losing just doesn't sit well," explains Ford. "Okay, there is no novelty in a Galway-Mayo provincial final. But it is an occasion. They never get bored of beating one another. If there were no Connacht medals handed out, the satisfaction in beating your main rival would still be immense. Because there is always a sense of trying to get even in one of the counties and I feel at training this week the players and people involved with Galway football are delighted to be here and to be playing Mayo."

Although a quiet, western affair in comparison to the big Ulster production up in Croke Park, this is arguably a critical Connacht final for both counties. Failure by Mayo to defend the title would be regarded as a huge regression by a team that finished second best in the country last September.

But John Maughan's team has greatly changed in the past six months. They are not quite starting from scratch, but the tenor of the team has changed. Last year in Castlebar Mayo beat Galway with a swagger. They have it all to do again.

Galway football people will head to Salthill in a state of curiosity as much as anything else. Ford has cobbled together a combination of the familiar and the brand new. Galway were competent in their semi-final victory over Leitrim and nothing more.

They performed "so-so" in the league, according to Ford. This is the first examination of value for Ford's team and, given the nature of Connacht football finals between the counties, the teams will be hard to separate. The decision by Walsh and full back Gary Fahey to retire last year meant that Ford had a lot of significant places to fill, but it also simplified the process of reinventing Galway in his own making.

But a key figure from the O'Mahony years that has returned is Michael Donnellan. When Ford met the Dunmore man last November, Donnellan told him that he didn't really have the heart for football at that time. He promised, though, to work privately on his fitness and that if his desire for the game returned, he would be in touch after the league.

"I was just happy with his honesty," Ford says. "You know, Michael came on the scene in 1998 as this tremendously exciting talent, but he has had his struggles over the last couple of years. And you need happy, motivated footballers around you. I respected Michael for just coming out and saying what he said and I didn't know what the future held for him. But he was as good as his word and he called."

At his first session back, Donnellan was finishing in the top five in most of the drills. Ford had appreciated him as a footballer from afar, but was taken aback by how much of an athlete Donnellan was. And the personality was also at odds with what he had come to expect.

"Obviously, Ja Fallon and those guys know him better than me. But he had obviously worked awful hard on his own. He has great pace, great strength and vision and real stamina. Obviously, he is a football player with enormous gifts. But, as I said, I never really knew him and, contrary to all you hear, Michael creates a good mood in the camp. He is very positive, he is good fun and the lads in there get on very well with him. So yeah, his return has been great."

Donnellan on song has often inspired irresistible Galway performances. If things go well for the maroon team tomorrow, Ford admits he won't be feeling in any way compromised by putting one over on his home county.

"You put so much work into this and get to know people who are doing the same that it becomes about them as much as anything. It might be easier for me if we were playing Roscommon in the final, but then it mightn't be quite the same atmosphere. It will be devastating if Galway lose, but we would bounce back.

"And equally, I think it will be a great boost for Galway football if we can win it. It is going to be difficult. These Connacht finals, they twist and turn. We keep turning one another over."