The Galway forwards look to be very effective, especially based on their performance against Kilkenny.

Eugene Cloonan has had a very impressive scoring rate, but you have to remember that he is their free-taker as well.

And one of the best pieces of skill I've seen in a long time was the score from Kevin Broderick.

He simply ran through the Kilkenny defence and took everybody by surprise, and it certainly was a wonderful piece of skill.

Galway also have a big man like Joe Rabbitte in there, well over six foot, and they've also got very fast forwards around him and that is very important.

You have to say that Cloonan will always be dangerous and if his frees are going over the bar then he will grow in confidence as well as the game progresses.

Cloonan also has the ability to come out the field.

So overall you're looking at a forward unit that is very fast, and very skilful, but they have got to produce the goods again. I felt that everybody had underestimated them ahead of the Kilkenny match, and everybody were saying that Kilkenny were the team of the year and were going to go on for three in-a-row and things like that.

When Galway came out knowing that no one gave them a chance, it was actually a great boost and fired up the forwards in a way that seemed to give them an extra edge.

Still, the Tipperary backs are going to have their work cut out, and like any team that plays in an All-Ireland final, they will have to be at their best if their team are going to win. They simply must stop the Galway forwards from playing their game.

On an individual basis, you have to say that the Tipperary backs are very, very strong. They proved it in the league when they met Galway but I maintain that Galway were only at three-quarters of their training schedule for that match.

Now they face a Galway team that has completed the training under Mike McNamara. He has the ability to produce that steeliness in a team, and we saw that in Galway in a way that we haven't seen for some time.

For a start it will be an interesting dual between Philip Maher and Cloonan, because Cloonan will come out the field and Maher will have to come after him. Eamonn Corcoran will also have his hands full with Rabbitte so overall it will be an absorbing struggle between the two areas.

In terms of speed, I think the Galway forwards will have the edge on the Tipperary backs, and that may be the only difference.

But it's far too close to call to say one area will dominate the other.