Mayo old boy TJ Kilgallon went close but didn't get to smoke the cigar on the steps of the Hogan Stand. Ahead of this year's All-Ireland decider, he says he won't be surprised if Kerry's title hopes go up in smoke. Just days to go now and Mayo expects. The team's victory over Dublin made it a day of vindication for all the players from way out west. However ask any football fan of a green and red hue, are those expectations going to be realised and they'll say, 'wait 'till it's over'. Fact is Mayo's premier football team has been down this road so often before that the words false and dawn are almost embroidered into the leather of the players' boots. Four blue riband All-Ireland finals in the past ten years has dispatched untold messages across the Shannon. Whatever else about the thoughts going through the cerebellums of Mayo fans these days in the run up to this year's All-Ireland SFC final, taking things for granted just don't figure. If they were a rock, Mayo fans could be said to be weather beaten. Romantic days travelling up to Croker have seen their dreams being trampled on too often for any complacence to take root in 2006. Signs of weariness on the part of Mayo fans were manifest in the revelation that more than 3,000 of the green and red hoardes chose not to travel back to Croke Park for the quarter-final replay last month against Laois. But with the prospect of rowing back a half a century and lifting the Sam Maguire Cup comes a new energy though, a new vitality. Mayo old boy TJ Kilgallon has been impressed by his county's vim and vigour in the championship this year. "The whole team has done well but particularly the midfield. In years gone by, that was a sector that some people might have pointed out as being a weak area for Mayo but Pat Harte and Ronan McGarrity have been outstanding all year and I expect them to be the engine driving the team forward once more against Kerry," the Balla clubman opines. And as someone who has been there, done that and worn the jersey at the highest level and in the greatest GAA arenas, Kilgallon's thumbs up to Mayo's midfield axis is some vote of confidence. With six Connacht SFC medals to his belt plus an All-Ireland MFC and an All-Ireland colleges medals on his curriculum vitae, the former ace midfielder 'cum attacker has got a lot of street cred not only in Mayo but countrywide. Kilgallon has learned to become restrained though when asked to forecast Mayo's chances of recovering their lustre of the 'fifties and before that. This will be Mayo's fifth appearance in the All-Ireland SFC final with one draw and three defeats to their name. The one-time galloping Mayo midfield maestro featured in the decider against Cork in 1989 and is all too well aware of how fickle fate is, especially on finals day. "Finals are all about winning and you seldom get a match that is one for the video diary of neutrals. "I don't think there'll be any nastiness though because both teams like to play the ball and like a fast, open running game. "It'll will be all about who gets over the finishing line first and a bit of luck on the day to one side or the other could decide the issue. TJ is conscious of the part Dame Fortune can play in such an anticipated claustrophobic, frenetic affair but he genuinely believes that Mayo's engine room can form the cockpit of success over the Kingdom. While his rating of McGarrity and Harte is second to none, he reckons the contribution of David Brady, among a coterie of top class 'reserves' has been invaluable. "He has added a lot of drive and purpose around the middle and his pace in going forward can cause a lot of problems if given the chance against Kerry. "Overall though I think the fellas in the diamond area of the field can do even better for Mayo and if they manage to do so, the team will be hard to beat. "Mayo are very strong in that sector though and that was borne out when they had to play a lot of the game against Dublin without Ronan McGarrity. Crucially, TJ believes that Mayo will have to step it up a bit from the Dublin game. A similar display, however praiseworthy, won't be good enough to topple the Kingdom, he says. "The good thing from my perspective is that the players have the potential to play better than they did against Dublin. "The team put in an outstanding display against Dublin and it was a great spectacle and the atmosphere was second to none. "But that will count for nothing when the final comes around." The kind of form that could win them an All-Ireland? "I honestly don't think so. Mayo got the rub of the green a few times and really caved in a bit in the first ten minutes after half-time. "If that happens again in the final, I would have my doubts that they'd be able to come back. "I definitely feel they'll have to play even better against Kerry than they did against Dublin if they're to win the Sam Maguire Cup, " TJ avers. Have we seen the best of Mayo then? "I don't think so. I think there's more in the tank. "But I still feel that Mayo will have to win about 55% of the possession around the middle if they are to win through. " If Kerry manage that sort of percentage, then their inside forwards will be spoiled for ball and they can do a lot of damage with a good supply. "There's also room for quite a bit of improvement in attack because the forwards didn't take all their chances and my fear is that Kerry will be more efficient up front. Still for all Kerry's undoubted potency, Mayo have a lot going for themselves and the former county collossus has admired the team's tenacity and determination over the course of their prolonged championship run. "The players have shown a lot of character during the year. "We struggled at times against Galway, especially when Michael Clancy got his goal but then Mayo dug in and took over and the same sort of thing happened against Laois. "The team finished well and never gave up. Kilgallon was a player who showed great heart, played with panache and passion and is well qualified to measure the pride, vim and vigour that the best from the west have brought to the table in 2006. "Of all things, I'd belief has been the main characteristic shown by the team this year under Mickey Moran. "I think he (Moran) has acknowledged that himself when he talks about 'faith'. He has certainly revitalised a lot of the players. "Fellas like Keith Higgins, David Brady and Kevin O'Neill have come in and done very well and they along with the rest of the players have made a lot of progress since the latter stages of the national league. In reviewing Mayo's championship encounters this year in Connacht, TJ says Moran's men have improved with each round after Leitrim "put it up to them". "I have to be honest though and say that I wouldn't have backed them to go as far as they have after that Leitrim game. "You'd be looking at the usual suspects like Kerry, Tyrone, Armagh and Dublin and maybe Mayo next along with the likes of Cork and Laois. "But since they beat Galway, there's been a steady improvement all-round and they've deserved their place in the final. It's obvious that the one-time Mayo powerhouse has the height or respect for what his countymen and their management team have achieved to date. Interestingly, he says that the current squad tick more boxes than any other Mayo senior side in his time playing and watching the game. "It's probably the strongest squad to represent Mayo that I have seen. "You only have to look at the way the subs that have been introduced have performed. " It's been a great collective effort with the subs that went in against Dublin being particularly impressive. "And the way the game has gone, you need to count on your subs doing the business when the opposition is top class. Like most pundits across the country, TJ feels that his native county will go into the final as clear underdogs. "I don't think you'll get any bookie making Mayo favourites," he suggests. "Just on the basis of the last two games alone, you'd have to say that Kerry look the team most likely to come out on top. "Mayo have had tougher games though on their way to the final and those games will stand to the team. "Most of the Mayo team has been down the same road before in 2004 so there's no question of them freezing and the ones who didn't play back them have distuinguished themselves at under 21 level at inter-county level and at college level in the Sigerson Cup. Any players to particularly look out for as possible contenders for man of the match? "Keith Higgins has had an outstanding year even allowing for the pressure he was under at times against Dublin. "If I was Mickey Moran, I'd be very confident that he'll do a very good job. "For Kerry, Kieran Donaghy had developed into being the key man for them. "He has been a revelation so far and most of what Kerry has done well in attack has come off him. But there will be a lot of interesting tussles and it has the makings of a good final. Tweet

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