By Cian O'Connell

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Anthony Finnerty remains one of the great characters of the western game – a former Mayo star, who is now helping shape the future of Gaelic Football in Galway.

This Sunday will be a particularly special one for Finnerty, who will watch his gifted son Robert line out alongside four other Salthill-Knocknacarra teenagers Eoin Deeley, Eoin McFadden, John Maher, and Evan Murphy in the Electric Ireland Minor Final.

Salthill-Knocknacarra are in an extremely fortunate position being able to call on the services of several distinguished GAA figures now living and working Corribside with Eamon O’Shea’s thoughtful methods evident with a nifty under 15 hurling team.

Finnerty, who played for Mayo in the 1989 and 1996 All Ireland deciders, has occupied a central coaching role with Salthill-Knocknacarra for the past decade. “It is fantastic, we are very excited about it all,” Finnerty told GAA.ie.

“It is fantastic about ourselves as a family, but it is great for the club, and for the lads I've been working with over the years.

"It is nice to see all the work that we maybe have put in over the years coming to fruition with these lads. With five of them being involved in the panel, it is just lovely for them, this part of the city and for us all. We are all good friends, these are good mates so it is great.

“When you are putting work in you are hoping lads will come on. We would be hoping to have a good club team. I would always like to think that Salthill would have the ability, that we would have good numbers to get a good bunch of lads together.

“We've been putting work in year after year trying to develop these lads. It is great that we have just got a good crop between last year and this year. They are good lads and they've kept the interest. These lads have been ambitious, they've kept going, it is lovely that we got them this far. They are showing great potential, hopefully that will continue.”

Finnerty feels that the standard of underage football has been improving in Connacht, highlighting the strides made by Mayo, Sligo, and Roscommon. “If you look at the other provinces I'd certainly think we are better than Leinster at the moment, and we have proven this year that our minor team were better than Ulster. There is a bit going on.

“Certainly Sligo had a very good minor team and you can see it in Colleges Football how they have been developing. I've seen a good improvement in Roscommon, who have been very good at under 21 and minor level.

“Sligo have definitely improved, they've had two great minor teams. In Colleges, particularly, Sligo have been going very well during the past two years. Overall in Connacht there has been improvement with Mayo leading the charge with the way the seniors have been playing so it is catch up for the other counties.

“I always feel more can be done. In order to compete with the Kerrys and Dublins of this world it must be done down at the underage levels - developing.”

Sunday’s senior showpiece promises to be an intriguing affair also and Finnerty, who has Galway and Mayo flags proudly perched outside his workplace at Ward’s Bar in Lower Salthill, reckons the Green and Red are in a ‘good position’ entering the clash.

“I'm giving Mayo a chance, with the way the year has panned out for them, they are still in a final now,” Finnerty says. “It will be very, very difficult. We know that Dublin are a superb team.

“The way I would look at it is I think Dublin have dipped a bit from last year. They are missing three of their backs, two or three of their forwards haven't been firing which does give Mayo a chance. I think Mayo are in a good position, but it is still only a small chance.

“It is difficult to retain an All Ireland title in football. We haven't seen too much of them. Only one team has managed to do so since 1990, that is going back a long time, Kerry are the only team to have done it since. It is a tough assignment for Dublin, but at the same time they are a brilliant team.

“Everything will have to go well for Mayo, but this team are smart, they have the experience, and maybe a little surprise could happen. We would be all hoping that it might.”

How Mayo have adapted for the different challenges that were presented following the Connacht SFC loss to Galway is another interesting factor according to Finnerty.

“Whereas Mayo haven't been very, very impressive I think the way they have managed individual games that has been impressive.

“I wasn't expecting them to beat Tyrone this year. I thought that we might have missed the boat and that Tyrone were the up and coming team. I was very impressed with Mayo against Tyrone, not so much against the other teams.

“I think that the team itself has matured to a point where they seem better able to manage situations, particularly in big games in Croke Park. I think they have managed the last two games there quite well. Some of that has to be down to Stephen Rochford, some of his calls have been very good.

"Putting David Clarke back in to goal, the sweeper system seems to be effective, Barry Moran was very effective the last day. Again the match ups will be crucial the next day. It is another step up, whether the Mayo team are good enough to match the Dubs we will have to wait and see.

“I would imagine that there would be a lot of thought from the management put into how they are going to get the match-ups right, how they are going to manage the game. I suppose it will be back to the players then to see if Mayo will have the playing resources to stick with Dublin for 70 minutes.

“Usually Dublin win any close game in the last 10 minutes, we saw what they did in last year's replay. You'd be hoping that Dublin may not be as strong this year and that Mayo can still manage the whole situation. I'm looking forward to it.”