Galway's end game not the finished article

How Galway finish out Saturday's All-Ireland football semi-final could be the key to deciding the showdown with Derry, according to Ciarán Whelan and Eamonn Fitzmaurice.

The duo, speaking on the RTÉ GAA Podcast, warned that the Tribesmen will have to improve their performance in the last quarter at Croke Park or it could cost them a place in the All-Ireland final.

En route to their Connacht title Padraic Joyce's side ended up holding on against Mayo, despite leading by six points with just a couple of minutes to go.

They eased past Leitrim in the last four out west, before beating Roscommon in the provincial decider. Once again though a big lead - of eight points with eight minutes to go - was whittled down to one score as the Rossies landed two late goals.

Most spectacularly of all, they ended up being brought to extra-time by Armagh in the All-Ireland quarter-final, having led the contest by six points in second-half stoppage time, before conceding another two goals.

"It's a mental fatigue, more than a physical fatigue," Whelan said of the late collapses.

"It's been a trend, even if you go back to Mayo in the championship last year. They'll be acutely aware of it. If anything was going to highlight it was going to be the Armagh game, coming into extra-time and you're clear.

"It's something they will really focus in on and they'll have a few trigger points for that last quarter, in terms of keeping their concentration, or changing things up to ensure that they tighten up at the back.

"It's their biggest weakness. You look at how good Shane Walsh was the last day, but then he gives that late cross-field pass, Armagh cut it out, and all of a sudden they're up the other end of the field.

"So it's those game management situations,