Brian McStay spends more of his time in Boston than in Ballina but he will be expected to put all of that out of his mind when he lines out for Ballina Stephenites against Roscommon Gaels in the Connacht club football final in his native town on Sunday. McStay makes no secret of the fact that he expects his team to win and suggests that they will be "five or six" points ahead when the final whistle sounds. He regards the influence of the team's midfield pairing of Liam McHale and David Brady as crucial to their chances. "Liam and David are vastly experienced and David's twin brothers, Liam and Ger will also have a major effect on the match," he says.

The condition of the pitch may be a factor: "It is very heavy at the moment and I hear that they are doing a lot of work on it in a bid to get it into shape," says McStay. "We have a very slight and very young defence with an average age of about 20 while the Gaels are much heavier and more mature than our lads. Yet I believe that if the pitch is anyway in good shape we will be more mobile and will be able to run at them and around them," he says. He believes that the matches against Corofin have given his side a lot of confidence. "The two matches against them on the Saturday and the following Sunday have certainly knitted the team together, in a way that we would not otherwise been able to do.

"Those two matches were worth a month's training to us. Our fitness and our morale and team spirit benefited us enormously. We went into the match against Eastern Harps of Sligo as clear favourites but they gave us a real fright. They have a very young team as well and then they had Paul Taylor, in my opinion one of the best forwards - if not the best forward - in the country.

"He really gave us a lot of bother and if Harps had one or two more of that calibre we would have lost. I don't think that Roscommon Gaels have any player of that influence and I believe that we can beat them.

"As well as that we have home advantage and the people around here have really got behind us and we will have a lot of vocal support behind us," he says. He is somewhat amused by the fact that his brother Kevin is involved with Roscommon Gaels in a "consultancy" capacity. "We haven't really discussed the matter, but I'm sure that as a former Stephenites player he will have mixed emotions on Sunday.

"He is in the lucky position that he can't really lose but I suspect that he will be supporting us," he says.

He regards the influence of Liam McHale and David Brady as crucial. "Liam had a bad knee in the Eastern Harps game last week but that has cleared up and I expect he will be at the top of his form against Gaels and, if he is, we should win well.

"It is unusual for a club team to have such a highly-talented midfield pairing. It makes a lot of difference at this level.

"Our defence is a bit light and may have problems with the Roscommon lads, but with a strong midfield and a mobile attack we can match whatever they throw at us," he says.

He is a member of the "mobile" attack himself, figuring on the right wing, but believes that the chances will present themselves if Ballina's central players live up to their full potential. He regards James Devenney at full back, Brian Heffernan at centre back, Brady and McHale at midfield and Denis Coen as the men on who Stephenites will depend for inspiration.