Gavin Cummiskeyhears from Galway's Micheál Meehan about his team's recent hot streak and weekend prospects.
Rewind to July 2006. The Dolan brothers are being back-slapped off the Salthill field just moments after engineering the championship's most notable scalp. Westmeath have just done a number on a flat-looking Galway.
It ended 1-8 to 0-10. The nightmare scenario had arrived.
What should have been Dublin v Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final now read Dublin v Westmeath. Padraic Joyce's footballing obituary was being penned. The decision of selector Ja Fallon to come out of retirement was looking like the misguided effort of an ageing heavyweight to summon the power one time too many; Fallon had been knocked out just 13 minutes into the contest in an accidental clash with the Westmeath goalkeeper Gary Connaughton.
"Westmeath have to take most of the credit," asserted Micheál Meehan. "They were well up for it. They closed us down in every way possible. We didn't play, I suppose. We hadn't got the disappointment of the Connacht final (defeat to Mayo) out of our system. I don't know what went wrong."
The contrasting desire between the teams was notable. Occasionally an allegedly superior team fails to cope with the industry of highly-motivated opponents. All-Ireland-winning counties can struggle to rediscover the hunger.
This year's league campaign seemed destined to confirm Galway's demise. Peter Ford's tenure seemed cursed. Two games, two defeats. Then they lost to Sligo IT in the Connacht League final.
Armagh were the next visitors to Pearse Stadium and 35 minutes into the game another disaster seemed imminent as Armagh led 0-6 to 0-0.
But Galway won 0-10 to 0-8, with Joyce contributing five points.
Wins over Kildare, Westmeath, Louth and Down followed. Joyce kicked 1-19 between the four games. Meehan was eased back into the forward line.
"There was a perception out there that we were in dire straits but that wasn't the case at all," notes Meehan. "(The Armagh game) definitely was a turning point. Six points down at half-time and it turned out we won by a couple of points. That really kick-started us. It cemented things and we kicked on from there."
That Mayo eventually ended the hot streak in the league semi-final will count for little if Galway reverse the result on Sunday.
Fallon has also managed to stave off retirement to address last season's nightmare return.
"We knew from talking to him that his heart was still in it and his body is still permitting him to play at the highest level so none of us in Galway were surprised," says Meehan. "It's tremendous for the younger players to have two-time All-Ireland winners there."
Ah yes, the All-Ireland titles of 1998 and 2001. John O'Mahony, prospective Fine Gael TD for Mayo, was manager then but has since returned to his native patch. O'Mahony's familiarity with the Galway players includes Meehan's generation, as he guided the under-21s to an All-Ireland in 2002.
"He is a very good manager," says Meehan. "Everyone who trains under him learns a lot. He's moved on and we have too. We've learned from him and we will continue to do so. It's a funny kind of set-up. He is not too far away and still very friendly with everyone in Galway circles. It will be interesting to see how first the match pans out and then in the polling booths a few days later."
First things first.
