Tribesmen can buck trend with Donegal looking doomed

Cork v Mayo
Sky Sports Arena, 5pm Saturday
Galway v Donegal
Sky Sports Main Event, 7pm Saturday

Losing provincial finalists have a wretched record in the footballer qualifiers but Galway can buck the trend by disposing of Donegal at Markievicz Park.

Since the birth of the back door in 2001, 62.5 per cent of beaten provincial finalists have lost their next game. Only 24 out of 64 have managed to bounce back with a win so the stats certainly say that Donegal will extend their stay in the race for Sam.

But this could be the game in which beaten provincial finalists strike back. Donegal have recovered from their Tyrone thumping in Ulster but both their wins in the qualifiers have been more workmanlike than impressive and getting the better of Longford and Meath is nothing to be writing home about.

Donegal were the better team against Meath, make no mistake about it, but only just. They had a goal disallowed in the first half and always looked like doing enough to get over the line. But their plethora of youngsters have a lot of growing to do and Galway could capitalise on their inexperience.

This is a Donegal team in the middle of a huge transition. The Jim McGuinness way is slowly dying but it is too soon for their influx of under-21 stars. They need more time. Meath just didn't have enough belief to capitalise on the uncertainty but Galway can.

Of course Galway's tame Connacht final display against Roscommon can't be overlooked, but it looked like serious complacency set in that day. They seemed to start believing the hype after their victory over Mayo. They were lethargic, lacked intensity and failed to find any sort of fluency. The weather conditions were dreadful too and would not have suited.

Galway need more from Shane Walsh, Eamonn Brannigan, Damien Comer and Michael Daly but they are a quality quartet and will all pose Donegal problems. Expect a backlash from a Galway team who remain on the rise despite their Connacht final debacle. Donegal are on a downward spiral.

The main worry for Galway is their kick-out strategy. When teams push up, Ruairi Lavelle struggles. He will be low on confidence after two below-par performances between the posts and that is an area that Galway need to sort out.

If Galway can gain possession for their own kick-outs, they can come out on top. They have more firepower than Donegal and have the personnel to keep tabs on Michael Murphy and Paddy McBrearty.

Galway have more ammunition than Donegal overall and a bigger spread of scorers and that could be the deciding factor.

First up in Division 4B of the qualifiers is the clash at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick between Mayo and Cork, two teams who are magnets to criticism and who have failed to catch fire in 2017. They have so much to prove.

Cork have far more to prove than Mayo. They were deplorable in their win over Waterford, scored only a point in their first half horror show against Tipperary, and fell apart in the second half of the Munster final.

That said, the Rebels were still in contention at half-time against Kerry. They moved the ball nicely from defence to attack and kicked some fine scores. They will need a similar display in the opening period here to stay in touch with Mayo.

Last year's beaten All-Ireland finalists have been poor in the first half of their matches. They were desperate against Derry and looked in deep trouble at the halfway stage of their clash with Clare.

There is no doubt that Mayo are getting there and matches coming thick and fast suits them best, but it does take them time to warm to the task and they seem to thrive in adversity so going behind in games almost seems to suit their style.

Given the criticism Cork have suffered this year and all that is at stake, expect to see the Rebels explode from the traps for this race. They can be backed at 100-30 to lead at half-time and that looks at least a point too big.

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