Eoin Ryan / 04 April 2009 Free Bet

20 years ago, Galway and Tipperary played in one of the most ill-tempered All-Ireland semi-finals in recent history. It was a rivalry borne first and foremost out of mutual respect between the two best teams in the country at that time, but had been soured by successively more tempestuous meetings over the preceding three years.

Relations between the two have improved significantly since then, but that's not to say that this weekend's meeting is not without intrigue as it marks the first time that John McIntyre will lead out his Galway team against his native county.

McIntyre played with Tipperary throughout the early 80s and was a rather uncompromising holder of the no.6 jersey for a number of years before their memorable break-out Munster final victory of 1987. He has since moved to Galway and has held the position of Sports Editor with the Connacht Tribune for most of the last two decades.

In that position he has not been backward in slating elements of the club game in the county so his appointment was seen as one which would require him to perform a rather interesting balancing act between his day job and his even more high-profile hurling life.

Thus far, reports from west of the Shannon have indicated that, at least from the paper's point of view, he has managed to tread a wary line. Not going over-board on the successes of the Portumna team might perhaps be seen to be in his own interest (who could fail to make a good inter-county team from the best club side of all time?), but it's also interesting to speculate on whether he was trying to protect the spine of his team from unnecessary pressure.

The extent to which McIntyre and the entire Galway hurling set-up will lean on the expertise of Joe Canning is already apparent, two games into his return from his club exploits. He eased himself back into the team with 1-8 against Limerick to secure a vital victory, and then got 9 points in what many people described as a lacklustre performance against Waterford. Lacklustre!

He is without doubt capable of beating teams on his own and he is the sole reason I'll be backing Galway to win this one. Tipperary's own genius-in-chief Eoin Kelly is only just back in training after a back injury that has severely hampered his early season work and will more than likely not play any part in this year's league.

Tipperary have been rattling along satisfactorily enough in the league, with only one defeat, but that defeat was a thumping one, away to Kilkenny, when they conceded 5 goals in a wretched first half. They are still on course for a league final if they win this weekend but Galway too, if they win this weekend and then against Clare in the final round of games, have a chance of playing in the showpiece.

Elsewhere Kilkenny will be fancied to beat Cork in what is going to be a singularly instructive early season game, while there are rather awkward managerial returns for Anthony Daly and Justin McCarthy. Take the Dubs to beat Clare, and Justin's Limerick will be more motivated than usual and I fancy them to beat Waterford.

Four home wins doesn't offer the best in value but in a venue like Pearse Stadium, which is always windy given it's proximity to the sea, take Galway to score first, lead at half time and win the game.

And if you can find anyone down the pub to take a bet that Joe Canning will score more than the entire Tipperary team, then heck that might be a flutter too...

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