U-20s target All-Ireland glory

IF you want to be the best, well you've got to beat the best and Galway and Dublin have done just about everything required en route to Saturday's All-Ireland U-20 Football Championship final. The Tribesmen will contest their first decider at the reduced age grade, and arrive on merit with wins over Mayo and Kerry, two of the top half dozen sides in the competition, the high-water marks of a run that also included runaway victories against Leitrim and Roscommon. Dublin's progress in Leinster, meanwhile, was a little more serene until Ulster champions Tyrone put them to the pin of the collar and the Boys in Blue needed to summon a strong finish in the last four.
Having won the Clarke Cup in 1972, 2002, '05, '11 and 2013, Galway are targeting a sixth All-Ireland at this level and go in as slight underdogs with the odds compilers. They have grown not just as a team, but as a panel during this campaign, and that strength in depth saw them prevail against Kerry in LIT Gaelic Grounds in October, when without footballers of the calibre of Paul Kelly, James McLaughlin, Cathal Sweeney and Tomo Culhane amongst others due to being Covid-19 'close contacts'. Kelly had already graduated to Padraic Joyce's plans and started last month's Connacht final with Mayo, a day when Sweeney was an unused substitute.