Form favours Galway men but Mayo are dangerous foes

IT has crept up on us almost surreptitiously – probably the single most important game of this year’s Connacht senior football championship – namely the first-round clash of Galway and Mayo at McHale Park, on Sunday (4pm). Apart from the traditional rivalry that fuels Galway/Mayo clashes, the chances of qualification for the new Super 8s format will be greatly increased for the side that takes the spoils in Castlebar – for the losers, there’s the prospect of a trek through a hazardous maze of qualifiers. Like most clashes between Galway and Mayo, there’s probably very little to separate them in terms of ability or motivation and while the bookies may have lumbered Stephen Rochford’s side with the favourites tag (8/11 as against Galway’s 6/4), this really is pretty much a straightforward even-money contest. On all championship form over the course of 2016 and 2017, Mayo should have enjoyed the upper hand against their old rivals but on both of those occasions at Castlebar and Salthill, it was Galway who found the extra gear when it was needed most. So far in 2018, the build-ups could not have been more different. Galway enjoyed an unexpectedly fruitful National League campaign, going into the final against Dublin unbeaten, while Mayo only avoided relegation with the help of a last gasp Kevin McLoughlin point against Donegal. If league form alone was to be the guide, then Galway would be run-away favourites to earn a Connacht semi-final slot against Sligo, but championship football is an altogether different animal, and Mayo will be razor keen to deliver a clear message that they’re not a spent force. In terms of championship form since 2012, Mayo have pretty much done it all, apart that is from getting over the line and winning an All-Ireland title, but they have come mightily close.