TIPPERARY have an important advantage over Galway in tomorrow's minor hurling final at Croke Park they have four matches behind them while Galway's only outing was against Kilkenny in the semifinal.
The Eugene O'Neill inspired Tipperary attack have derived valuable target practice from all of their games. They opened with 2-14 against Limerick at home in Thurles, hit 17 points against Cork almost two months later, and a fortnight later shattered Waterford 2-19 to 1-11.
Top that up with the 2-25 bagged against Antrim in the All Ireland semi final and the tally is impressive. Full forward O'Neill accounted for 2-32 of the total, so Sunday is bound to be another busy day at the office for Galwav's full back Michael Healy, only weeks after he faced the wiles of Kilkenny's Jimmy Coogan.
But Galway were not exactly score shy in their only match to date, scoring 3-16 against Kilkenny. These statistics, which could amount to very little when the chips are down tomorrow, would suggest a high scoring match is in prospect, but defensive readjustments in both camps seem well deployed to keep front runners in check.
Tipperary have `reassembled' their right wing of defence now that Tom Costelloe and Nigel Cleere have recovered from injury. It means that the stand ins, Declan Maher and Thomas Keane, move back to the bench.
Costelloe and Cleere are expected to stamp out the threat of Galway forwards David Loughrey and Aidan Poniard which was so obvious against Kilkenny. Poniard scored two goals on that occasion and then displayed versatility after being switched to help make running repairs on a struggling midfield.
Poniard is restored to his favourite left corner position now that Anton Walshe is introduced in midfield. Wing back Darren Shaughnessy moves to midfield in a swap with Colin Coen.
Cathal O'Reilly moves to right half back, with Coen operating on the left flank. Paul Kennedy, who notably stoked up the Galway attack after being introduced five minutes into the second half against Kilkenny, is deservedly retained at right half forward.
If Galway full back Healy faces the possibility of a testing time from O'Neill, the same is likely to apply at the other end where Tipperary's storming full back Fergal Heaney faces Galway's top scorer Eugene Cloonan. The whole exercise could boil down to a clash of the full backs and full forwards, with the respective left corner forwards, Tipperary's Mick Kennedy and Galway's Poniard, likely to be cast in the main supporting roles.
A lot, too, will depend on how the reformed Galway midfield fares against Willie Maher and Michael Ryan, two players who have already established themselves in the competition.
Tipperary's advantage in match practice allied to a wealth of talent could prove the decisive factor.
