4. Galway
The assumed wisdom is that the Tribal County are out of the discussion for 2020, and that age and mileage has gently nudged their best players over the hill.
Tipperary showed in 2019 that a bunch of quality tricenarians can make it to the top, and Joe Canning and Davy Burke still have the quality to produce at the highest level. Galway would likely have made it out of Leinster last year had Canning been fit for more than 20 championship minutes, and who knows what would have happened thereafter.
Just because Micheal Donoghue has been replaced by a newcomer at senior inter-county level (Shane O’Neill), it doesn’t mean that the future and present cannot be bright.
This is a team that won in Nowlan Park last season without Canning, showed some real promise in early 2020, and O’Neill has the experience of winning a club All-Ireland with Na Piarsaigh.
Brian Concannon is growing in stature, Conor Whelan is only getting better, Joseph Cooney is back training, and the manager is otherwise rejigging the pieces to find the best possible arrangement.
A tough draw against Wexford in the Leinster semi-final, but the Tribe are dangerous. With a bit of momentum, they can become dark horses to win it all.
