I was very sad to hear about the death of Paul Clancy. He was as decent a fella as you’d come across, popular with everybody he met and just one of those people who was naturally great company. He’d have been there at the final in a few weeks when the 2001 Galway jubilee team gets their moment in the sun. It’s an awful thing that he’s gone so young.He played the best pass you’ll ever see in an All-Ireland final and we were on the receiving end of it. Declan Meehan’s goal in the 2000 final is a famous one because Galway went the length of the pitch after John Divilly took the rebound down off the crossbar from a Kerry 45. Meehan’s finish was brilliant, but the key to it was Clancy’s kick pass, hooked over his shoulder right into Meehan’s chest, with Noel Kennelly chasing after him.The comical thing about that goal was we had had a meeting the night before the replay about targeting Meehan in the air. He was an excellent player and pacy, but he was no giant. And he’d be playing on Kennelly, who had plenty of size. We thought we’d have an advantage there.Now when I say we had a meeting it was basically the backs and midfielders sitting in a room without the management and listening to Declan O’Keeffe between drags on his cigarette. We were all nervous before these big finals and O’Keeffe wasn’t above admitting it. “I don’t smoke at all,” he said, standing up by the window and puffing a fag out of it. “Just when the nerves would be at me.”Anyway, once he called the meeting to order, he laid out his master plan. “Look,” he says, “Declan Meehan is about five-foot-one or two or whatever he is. And Noel Kennelly is six-foot-one or two or three ... I don’t know exactly what he is, but he’s bigger than Meehan anyway. I’ll pipe high ones down there on top of them and we’ll be away.”Six minutes into the game, Galway are working the ball out down the left wing. Pádraic Joyce hits a bullet of a pass into Clancy, who had already looked over his left shoulder before collecting it. And this high, looping pass over his right shoulder to pick out Meehan on the run. The height difference didn’t matter a damn when the pass was that perfect. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.Galway’s Shane Walsh celebrates scoring a two-pointer against Roscommon in the Connacht SFC final. Photograph: James Crombie/INPHO He’ll be remembered in Croke Park on Sunday when Galway take on the Dubs. I fancy them to win, even though Dublin are on a high after the Donegal game. Galway have been building quietly all year. They had a good league where six of their seven games were good, close battles. The other one was against Monaghan, which they won handy enough.Galway have a few factors in their favour this year. First and foremost, they have everybody fit and on the grass. For their past three matches in a row, they’ve had Seán Kelly, Damien Comer and Shane Walsh all on the pitch together for at least the last 20 minutes and sometimes longer. I would guess you’d have to go back a few seasons for the last time that happened.Another thing in their favour is they’ve had to do little travelling in this championship. Their last two games have been in Salthill. Before that, they only had to go to Roscommon and Carrick-On-Shannon. Four games and they haven’t left Connacht. Compare it to last year when they were in New York, Derry, Cavan and Newry before they got to Croke Park. It was tiredness, as much as anything else, that killed them against Meath.This isn’t a small thing. I totally agreed with Jim McGuinness when he spoke after the Dublin game about fellas not having time to train and turn around between games. Donegal and Armagh both looked wrecked last weekend. They both had to go out and play with their season on the line just a week after getting beaten in their last game. That’s a big barrier to overcome.I’m blue in the face saying that the schedule is putting too much of a strain on the people who matter most. You wouldn’t send a racehorse or a greyhound out again the following week after it got beaten in a hard race, yet we seem to think it’s fine and fair to send lads who’ve been at work all week out to play again with a tight turnaround.These players are filling stadiums week after week. Everyone says it’s the best championship in years. The GAA is making money on all these games, yet they’re still rushing to get through them so they can put concerts on in Croke Park in August. It’s not right. And it will never be right.Rant over, back to Galway. I think they’re coming to the boil nicely. As well as having their main men back, they’re mixing up the subs they’re bringing in as well. Joyce is smart enough – not only does that spread the load around the place, it also makes everybody feel like they’re contributing.Dublin's Con O'Callaghan in action against Donegal on Sunday. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO This is how a year catches fire. The buy-in becomes universal. It doesn’t just apply to the players on the pitch: the physios get really into it, the logistics people, the stats people. All come to training and match day each time with the attitude of “We have a real chance here – no way am I going to be the one who lets us down”. Nobody is going through the motions.That’s what Galway look like to me from the outside. Kerry are obviously favourites now after taking out Armagh last weekend. But Galway must be looking around them and thinking they’ll fancy themselves against any other team that’s left. No Armagh or Donegal and now they have Dublin who might be missing Con O’Callaghan.Kerry took a big step forward last weekend. Galway can do the same this Sunday.