Galway play their fourth successive Connacht football final this Sunday and their ninth provincial decider in eleven years, but the Tribesmen have a mountain to climb if they are to annex the J J Nestor Cup against Mayo in McHale Park in Castlebar on Sunday.

The last time that the sides met in a Connacht final was in 2006 when Mayo defeated Galway by 0-12 to 1-8. In the previous year's decider Galway beat Mayo by 0-10 to 0-8, a feat the Tribesmen also achieved in 2003 winning by 1-14 to 0-13.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC . . . Galway skipper Padraic Joyce who will be hoping to lead the Tribesmen to victory in the Connacht fi nal on Sunday. Photo: Declan Monaghan

Since Galway won the All Ireland title in 2001, they have met Mayo every year in the Connacht championship. The Tribesmen have tasted success on four of these occasions, but the balance is likely to favour Mayo on this occasion.

The Mayo side under the guidance of John O'Mahony who, of course, guided Galway to a brace of All Ireland successes, hammered Sligo in their last outing and look to have picked up the pieces since they were mauled by Galway in last year's humiliating encounter at Pearse Stadium in the first round of the championship which ended with the scoreboard reading Galway 2-10 Mayo 0-9.

Mayo were subsequently dumped out of the championship by Derry, while Galway exited the scene after sensationally losing the Connacht final to Sligo and then losing to Derry. This year the Mayo side have patiently been building up a solid base and some of the older players have left the scene.

The introduction of quality performers around midfield like Pat Harte, Tom Parsons and Ronan McGarrity has given a new impetus to the side. The return of Austin O'Malley, Trevor Mortimer and others have added spice to the attack. For many years Ciaran McDonald was the centre of the Mayo attacking play and everything went through the Mayo stalwart. Now there is no McDonald and whether or not the team can produce the goods at the highest level without such a top class player, only time will decide.

Surprisingly James Nallen was named in the starting line out against Sligo. What team O'Mahony will line out on Sunday is difficult to predict but Mayo have players that are on fire in recent games and will have to be given tremendous respect by the Galway lads.

The Tribesmen looked good in the League campaign and despite a sluggish performance against Donegal accounted for quality sides until they came up against Kerry where defeat ended their interest in the competition.