‘I haven’t been blown away by Kerry this year’ - Gary Sice

Gary Sice begins by listing off all the reasons he believes Galway can win this All-Ireland. Some are well-rehearsed, others more spontaneous, each one building a compelling case towards their prospect of beating Kerry on Sunday.

It’s all underlined by the belief that Galway are playing to their own strengths and structures and confidence, not unlike Corofin were when Sice proved so central in them capturing three successive All-Ireland club titles from 2018 to 2020.

Before he gets too carried away, Sice also jumps in unprompted as if reminding himself nothing can ever be certain going into All-Ireland final day, with club or county.

“I am awful afraid of [David] Clifford going ballistic,” he says, “hitting 10 worldies, or hitting 1-10, half-fearful of Paul Geaney and the two Cliffords [Paudie and David] clicking and they go ballistic and shooting the lights out.

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“That is a possibility, let’s be realistic about it. But if it becomes a game of attrition and it becomes as sticky as it can be, I think we are in with a really, really good chance.”

Back to some of those reasons Galway can win. After putting up 2-19 against Roscommon in the Connacht final, 2-21 against Armagh in the quarter-final (not including penalties), 2-8 (eventually) against Derry in the semi-final, Sice is sure Galway are improving game-on-game; with Kerry he’s not so sure about anything.

“I think against Armagh was like playing three championship games. You saw the best, the worst, and the bit of grit, which was fantastic from a Galway point of view, because they needed a win in Croke Park like that.

“The way it turned out was a real watershed moment. Especially for their own structure and belief they have at the moment, I think it was fantastic, and the way they’re playing very nicely, improving game-on-game.”

Still, he’s surprised more people aren’t giving Galway a greater chance, especially given some of the questions Sice raises over Kerry.

“It’s a strange one. People are, I wouldn’t say dismissive in Galway, but definitely saying this is Kerry’s time, and they’ve earned this, they’re going to win an All-Ireland.

“I haven’t been blown away by them this year, by anything they’ve done this year, including the last day against Dublin. I don’t know was it all that impressive.

“Dublin without Con [O’Callaghan] are different, are not the same threat, and I think we at the moment have as much if not more threat that Dublin up front, individually and they way we’re playing as well, we can actually cause an awful lot of problems for Kerry.

“Keeping David Clifford and Seánie O’Shea below their averages, maybe stifling Paudie’s work rate a little bit, and maybe after that hoping our big players play. That’s probably where you’re at. I think if David and Seanie don’t shoot the stars out it will be interesting to see where all these scores are going to come from for Kerry.

“Prior to Dublin, you couldn’t say you learnt a lot about them, and I think they’ve a lot to learn about their own structure as well. So I’d give us a good chance if we keep those [players] below average.

“After the Dublin game, it was talked about as a game for the ages, but if you break it down I don’t think it was. It was a good game, and probably the first time we saw Kerry emerge from one of those dogfights to win, but I don’t think it was all the bells and whistles they think it was.

“It was a good performance, and they needed it, but there are still questions to be answered from that Kerry team, and hopefully Galway can pose some of those questions.”

A brand ambassador for football championship sponsors AIB, Sice briefly came out of retirement during the pandemic championship season of 2020, aged 36, so is well familiar too with Pádraic Joyce’s style of management.

“Pádraic is a very, very charismatic person and when you are around him and he starts talking about things, you will tend to buy in. It is not a forceful thing. He is just very charismatic and very confident in his own ability as well. Covid was a nightmare. When the opportunity came to get all the players on the field together and work properly, that shows where we are now.

“It is just about finding the structure to fit the personnel and I think that is where Cian O’Neill has given a hand this year, he has managed to bend and push a few things around that maybe weren’t as noticeable to the others.

“With Damien Comer, the structure is helping him too. He’s allowed, and being forced actually the way teams are set up, to come out the field – and when he comes out the field he finds himself going back into spaces that teams can’t account for.

“If he plays on the edge of the square he’s more easier to manage. But when he starts coming at you, and finds himself in mismatches as he’s done so far, that’s when he’s at his best, probably creating a bit of chaos, sucking in people, and if you see him coming, you’re going to have to go for him, and that creates spaces elsewhere. So he’s in a real good vein of form, very fit, very strong, and that’s when he’s at his most dangerous place, like he was in 2018.”

One compelling reason why Galway might just win.