1. How will Tipperary deal with Johnny Glynn?
Galway attacker Glynn ran riot against Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final, scoring an early goal and wreaking general havoc against the Rebels from the start.
The obvious outlet for Colm Callanan’s puckouts, Glynn is very strong in the air and also posed plenty of problems for Tipperary in last year’s qualifier.
Pádraic Maher struggled to cope on the edge of the square with Glynn’s presence but moving James Barry to full-back was an inspired move and helped to curb the threat of the Galway man.
Barry never looked back from there and made the number 3 position his own for the remainder of the season.
It does appear, however, that Maher and Glynn are poised to renew acquaintances further out the field.
2. How will Galway cope with the Callanan-O’Dwyer axis?
This is the acid test for a Galway full-back line that many suspect has not been truly tested yet.
In last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, Seamus Callanan unloaded on Cork with two sensational goals, one off his left hand side and the other off his right.
Nominally, John Hanbury will match up to Callanan and Pádraig Mannion looks like the man who will be asked to pick up O’Dwyer.
Waterford coped relatively well with this lethal inside pair in the Munster final and stopped a goal-hungry Tipperary team raising a green flag.
And only when O’Dwyer went roving around the half-forward line did he get on the ball and exert a scoring influence.
3. Will either team play a sweeper?
This game could see a return to a conventional 15 on 15.
Galway brilliantly adapted their style to cope with the Cork sweeper system, with fluid movement and workrate putting the Rebels on the backfoot and negating the influence of Mark Ellis.
Pádraic Maher played the spare man role for Tipperary against Waterford in the Munster final but looks set to go head to head with Johnny Glynn in the aerial stakes.
Galway may drop a player back at times to stem the supply of ball going into Seamus Callanan and John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer but it’s unlikely that they will adopt an all-out sweeper approach at Croke Park.
This one’s set up to be a high-scoring shootout but if one team is more likely to play with an extra man at the back, it’s Galway.
4. Puckouts
A key weapon for both teams and rival goalkeepers Colm Callanan and Darren Gleeson are experts in this regard.
Callanan mixed up his deliveries memorably in the Leinster replay victory over Dublin, with long and short puckouts causing endless problems for Dublin.
If either team sits back on Sunday, Callanan and Gleeson will aim pick out their corner backs with short deliveries and look to build attacks from there.
It’s more likely that both sides will push up and attack the puckouts but the goalkeepers are good enough to pick out their half-backs, midfielders and half-forwards with pinpoint deliveries.
As always, the puckout stats and who wins most will make for interesting reading at full-time.
5. The middle third battle-zone
And that leads us nicely on to where this game will be won and lost.
This game will be decided between the two 65m lines, with both teams looking to flood this key area with bodies.
Johnny Glynn’s battle with Pádraic Maher and the Iarla Tannian-Brendan Maher clash at the other end of the field are two crucial, anticipated match-ups.
Tannian may be content to hold his position and allow Maher to drift, as he has done to telling effect so far this summer.
But Tannian isn’t afraid to get forward either and he’ll look to make his presence felt under dropping ball and in many of the key rucks around the centre of the field.
6. Use of the bench
Both managers will feel that they have potential game changers to call upon if the need arises.
The wide-open spaces of Croke Park will test the energy levels of even the fittest players but Galway and Tipperary’s cavalry will be ready and waiting to make an impact.
Lar Corbett, Shane Bourke and Conor O’Brien came on for Tipp in the Munster final, with Corbett and Bourke both scoring points and playing key roles following their introductions.
It now appears that Galway have a strong bench at their disposal too.
Joseph Cooney and Niall Healy scored after coming on against Cork and two experienced defenders, David Collins and Fergal Moore, had to content themselves with substitute roles against the Rebels.
Competition for places on Galway and Tipperary starting teams, and indeed on the 26-man matchday panels, is especially fierce this summer.
