I feel whoever improves the most will win this match. Both have had an easy ride to date. Roscommon collapsed against Mayo and Galway didn't play in the second half. Cork had similar experiences in that after easily defeating Waterford and Limerick, they met a Kerry team totally out-of-sorts in the Munster final.

It will be interesting to see which team takes off in Croke Park. Cork have had a good, focused appearance all year playing very well together but I have been lately edging towards Mayo who also look focused and hungry but more importantly look to have solved their scoring problem. The two performances against Roscommon and Galway suggested that Mayo now have a better set of forwards.

The Cork defence has stood the test over the winter and have a lot of the attributes of a very good unit: they are tight-marking, hardworking and disciplined. No defender gets left on his own - which I feel worked in the Munster final.

Ronan McCarthy seemed to have Maurice Fitzgerald under tags before the cross came over, but Ciaran O'Sullivan created a bit of confusion for one of the goals and there was a suspicion that they got in each other's way for the goal from the 45. But to be fair to them, these were exceptions rather the rule.

Meath, in the other semi-final, are good in the full-back line, but Cork are good throughout and play well as a unit, which is the winning something. Sometimes you can have brilliant defenders who don't work as a whole. At crunch times of the League final against Dublin, Cork looked very confident and are the best defence in the country at the moment.

Full back probably isn't the position Sean Og O hAilpin would choose for himself and he would be happier further out the field, but a good defender plays anywhere. People would argue that he's not the complete full back and that he was caught for two goals in the Munster final, but as I've said these were collective aberrations rather than his direct fault.

I would agree that the case for Mayo's improvement in attack isn't watertight. Moving Kenneth Mortimer to centre forward from corner back didn't seem to be working as well for a long time in the Connacht final as it had against Roscommon. Against Galway, I don't think he played exceptionally well as an individual, but he has imposed a structure of sorts on the attack.

One of the ironies of Mayo's situation is that while most people would have said that they needed to find new forwards, what they have in fact discovered is three new backs and moved their two best defenders of recent years further up the field.

James Horan does appear to be back to his best. Kieran McDonald looks more mentally tuned-in, but Sunday is a big challenge for him. He's going to have to sustain it over the full game in Croke Park, more like the 1997 semi-final against Offaly than the final against Kerry.

If Mayo's forwards can keep up the improvement, those plumping for them to pick up some more silverware mightn't be totally wide of the mark because they do look to be on a good roll, however, strictly analysed, there's a lot of improvements to be made.

Mayo's defence did very well against Galway, but funnily enough, some of the worries I have about the team concern the backs. Early on Galway caused them a lot of trouble and scored 19 in the first half. The question to be asked is whether Galway's 0-1 in the whole of the second half was because Mayo were so good or because Galway were so poor? A better balance might have been struck by pulling back Kenneth Mortimer or James Nallen into the defence but the selectors have a closer view of everything.

Mayo's backs were tight, but it was the worst 35 minutes the Galway forwards have put in since I became involved with them, so the question is can Mayo improve on the first-half showing? If Aidan Higgins, Gordon Morley and Alan Roche have good games, it will prove that Mayo have found really effective defenders. Can the Cork forwards ask the questions?

After the League final I would have fancied Cork to do well, but since the Munster final I'm not so sure. I think Kerry were very poor and I'm not convinced by Cork's forwards. Don Davis played well at full forward but I don't know why they moved him to the wing when he was going so well. Philip Clifford also played well but Mark O'Sullivan is going to have to deliver more than he has done in recent matches. If Cork are to do it, someone new is going to have to put up a big score.

A lot of people would have been sceptical about the Mayo defence going into the Connacht final. They've earned another shot but the first few minutes will tell the tale.

If Mayo's new-found scoring rate is maintained, they'll pose more of a threat than Cork's attack. One of the reasons I favour Mayo is because of this. The six forwards who started the Munster final managed only three points from play and the two goals which were crucially important were scored by substitutes.

I would have picked Don Davis as my man of the match, but he's not a scoring forward. Mark O'Sullivan didn't score at all and those statistics help tilt me towards Mayo, although I wouldn't be hugely surprised by either side winning.

Mayo have a number of advantages though. They need no extra motivation. In the bigger picture, they came close to All-Irelands in 1996 and '97 and more specifically to do with Cork, they have the semi-final of 1993 when they conceded 2-4 in the closing minutes. I think they also have the better forward line and a bit of experience of having been there before. Maurice Sheridan can be relied on to kick whatever frees are awarded and Mayo are more experienced at midfield. They know it's no good beating the All-Ireland champions if they don't go on to win it themselves. The season will have been no huge bonus to Mayo unless they win the All-Ireland. I think they can take the first step tomorrow.

(In an interview with Sean Moran)