Age: 29.

Club: An Ceathru Rua.

Height: 5 ft 10 in.

Weight: 12 st 12 lb.

Championship debut: 1991 v Mayo. Scored this season: 0-1.

Honours: Connacht MFC (1988), Under-21FC (1989 and '90), SFC (1995, '98, 2000); Sigerson Cup with UCG (1992); All-Ireland SFC 1998; All Star 1998; International Rules (1989, '99).

In his own words: "One of things we were worried about was that we hadn't been put to the pin of our collar in Connacht and won all our games comfortably enough. We hadn't been in a situation where we were a few points down with 10 minutes to go so the Kildare game brought us on a wee bit. The experience of two years ago was important to us and it meant we knew what to expect even though it was played at a higher pace than we were used to in Connacht.

"The guys who score get all the headlines and that's right, that's proper. Defenders defend and we're not as eye-catching as forward units are. I know the Galway defence gets a fair bit of flak but we keep plugging away. In Connacht with the scores the forwards put up there was no need for me to go attacking.

"It doesn't bother me who scores but I haven't been asked to drop back. Ray Silke has gone back into the corner, Declan Meehan is playing right half back and Jason Killeen was playing centre back so we had new faces and positional switches which took time to get used to."

Opposition View:

Paul Taylor (Sligo) on Galway's defence - "A lot of people put down the Galway defence but although they have no outstanding individual players, the criticism is unfair because as a unit they play very well together. For a start their half forwards help out an awful lot. They put in a lot of hard tackles on the opposing half backs and midfield which stops the forwards getting good ball. I don't think John Divilly's recall strengthens or weakens the side on paper. Jason Killeen had played a few good games at centre back and I think it's bringing in one good player for another. Kerry may try to exploit the lack of height on the wings by using big forwards but Galway can spread things out around the middle so that their half backs are not isolated. They may be small but are very quick on the breaks as Sean Og de Paor has proved over the years. And Declan Meehan has to be watched because his experience in attack makes him dangerous going forward."