Blaine Hughes v Connor Gleeson
Kick-outs, kick-outs, kick-outs. Goalkeepers have a more impactful role in the outcome of Gaelic football matches now than ever before, and that will be the case here in this final. Hughes and Gleeson have both had big moments and made significant plays during this year’s championship, but the deciding factor in Sunday’s decider could boil down to the accuracy of their respective restarts when the opposition press up on kick-outs. Hughes showed his nerve with some on-the-money deliveries in the closing stages against Kerry last time out, while Gleeson has demonstrated an ability to go over the top and get huge distance on his clearances.
The only goal Galway have conceded in this year’s championship came against Armagh, when the Orchard County squeezed Gleeson’s kick-out and capitalised on a short restart, so the Tribesmen have already suffered in that scenario against Sunday’s opponents. Given the number of possessions goalkeepers now have per match, what they do with the ball generally sets the template for how the next play will develop. The importance of the contributions made by Hughes and Gleeson on Sunday cannot be overstated.
And we haven’t even mentioned shot-stopping!
Barry McCambridge v Shane Walsh
McCambridge has been a revelation during the All-Ireland series and really has been Armagh’s go-to defender in terms of man-marking duties. He didn’t start any game during the Ulster championship but has been an ever present since the first round of the Sam Maguire group stages. Not only has he proven to be a tight-marking defender, but McCambridge’s ability to get up and down the pitch has put his direct opponent on the back foot by having to decide whether to track him or stay up top. McCambridge has scored 2-4 in the championship and did a good job in by curtailing David Clifford last time out against Kerry.
Shane Walsh has been playing through the pain barrier for much of the season because of injury but he remains one of the most lethal forwards in the game. If Walsh is anywhere near full fitness, McCambridge will have a busy afternoon. In Galway’s semi-final win over Donegal, Walsh, Damien Comer and Rob Finnerty mostly stayed in attack whenever their markers trotted downfield. Armagh would certainly need to weigh up the risk-reward choices should such a scenario start to play out at Croke Park this Sunday.
Johnny McGrath v Conor Turbitt
Turbitt has been scintillating for Armagh and enters the final as their top scorer with 3-22 in the championship, 0-9 of which came from frees and 0-1 from a mark. With Rian O’Neill (1-12), Armagh’s second highest scorer, it will take something extraordinary for Clánn Éireann’s Turbitt not to finish the year as his side’s top marksman. Given Turbitt’s form, it is likely Galway will send McGrath over to pick him up from the start. McGrath, an All-Ireland under-20 winner in 2020, has already marked the likes of Shane McGuigan and Ryan O’Donoghue this summer. The tenacious and pacy McGrath is not a physically imposing defender, but he was a sprinter with Galway City Harriers when he was younger so it would seem an ideal match-up from Pádraic Joyce’s point of view to designate him as the man to pick up the player Armagh call ‘Turbo’.
Elsewhere, the battle in the middle of the field is also going to be pivotal to the outcome of the match where primary possession and winning breaking ball will be hugely important.
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