Everything you need to know about Kildare v Galway

TV
The Sunday Game Live on RTÉ2 from 13h30, with the highlights of the match, as well as All the action of the weekend, on The Sunday Game, RTÉ2, from 21:30

You can also watch it on GAA GO

Previous meetings of the championship
2000 Galway 0- 15 Kildare 2-06 (All-Ireland semifinals)
1998 Galway 1-14 Kildare 1-10 (Finals of the whole of Ireland)
1926 Kildare 2-05 Galway 0-02 (Team Semi-Finals of Ireland)
1919 Kildare 2 -05 Galway 0-01 (All-Ireland Finals)

No battle needed to make sure q Newbridge is the filming location of Galway – hosting a base of traditionally quieter and more casual supporters than their fanatical neighbors in green and red to the north – arriving at St Conleth's Park for the Super 8 Round 2 meeting.

The two teams have rarely met at the championship over the years and are drawn at 2-2 in direct confrontations although we can say with certain certainty, and at the risk of being bombarded with centurions' letters that no one alive can remember Kildare's victories.

Much has been said about Kildare's sad record against Galway in league and championship in the modern era. The last time Kildare beat Galway in any competition, Larry Tompkins was still their sniper – giving a reasonable indication of the weather we are talking about here.

That being said, before the opening week of the Super 8s, many have looked at this as a potential victory for Kildare, due to the home advantage and their brilliance. momentum in the qualifiers.

It was somewhat down during the weekend when Galway converted a little more of their doubters army with a surprise defeat of Kerry in Croke Park.

A win for Kevin Walsh's team will not guarantee him a spot in the All-Ireland semifinals – they could still be ruled out of the points difference even after that – but that would certainly leave the champions of Connacht in a dominant position.

SHAPE GUIDE
This winning habit
Galway has a habit of winning.

As in the late 1990s, the speed with which they were transformed from clashes over pretenders to All-Ireland was almost disconcerting.

Relegation favorites early in the year, Galway won 10 of 12 competitive games in 2018, removing one of two others, both of which were against Dublin.

A defense that was completely destroyed in the 2016 All-Ireland quarter-final and the 2017 Connacht final is now one of the most feared in the country.

On top of that, their rich array of natural talents in the front line is starting to keep its promise.

Ian Burke, long hired in the county and featured for many years with Corofin, has earned national recognition in 2018 with a series of excellent, effective performances around the corner. Shane Walsh's inexplicable shot was previously a source of frustration among Galway fans, but impressive performances in the Connacht final and last week's against Kerry suggest that he has corrected these problems in his game and is in the process of to become the # 11 jersey.

Momentum stuck

Having been stuck in a confidence losing the race in Division 1, Kildare was unable to clear in time for the Leinster championship encounter with Carlow in May.

Defeated there bottom bottom marked and most badumed we were in the dying embers of Cian O'Neill's diet.

The restorative power of the victories out in Derry and Longford should not be underestimated but it is the victory over Mayo, combined with the rallying effect of this fight against hierarchy of the GAA, which lights a fire under Kildare's season.

Their offensive play in the qualifying round 4 against Fermanagh was scintillating at times and they racked up 3-20 against a hyper-defensive outfit that limited Monaghan to 0-10 in the Ulster Finals.

No fewer than eleven Kildare players scored that day with Daniel Flynn, Neil Flynn and alternate Chris Healy causing the most devastation.

Fantastic Kildare team game, culminating in Neill Flynn's goal! pic.twitter.com/pjQpRkzNJ9

– The GAA (@officialgaa) July 7, 2018

Alas, who countered for little on the weekend while a team of Monaghan more experienced faced him against Kildare in the wet of Croke Park.

O'Neill did not hide the disappointment afterwards, describing the result as a "kick in the bad" for his team.

Newbridge factor

After the victory over Mayo, the place has already been legally bequeathed with the title fortress, probably inevitable. Indeed, many county lots have received the sobriquet "fortress" on a lot of scanner evidence.

Galway has already played twice in his own team at the 2018 Championship and has won victories. They even had a small supporting role in the forerunner of the saga "Newbridge or nowhere". when Roscommon threw a firm line that they were playing the Connacht decoder in Hyde Park and nowhere else.

And they have every reason to fear Newbridge and its rickety charms. A half-second Galway team went to the league in March and won easily.

These were, it must be said, two teams at both ends of the spectrum of confidence at the time. Kildare will probably be a little less scruffy and fatalistic this time around. But Galway, with its front-line stars coming down on St. Conleth's park, has good reasons to be even more optimistic than in the spring.

Player Watch
Adrian Varley (Galway): Eamonn Sweeney referred to "Galway Ginger Guerrillas" in Irish Independent this week in tribute to the number of redheads in the team (something which should be sobering) people take root for them).

One of them, Varley, had a major impact in the final stretch while Kerry started the game on the bench. Cortoon Shamrock (Derek Savage and Johnny Hughes) have launched two important points to extend Galway's score from 0-12 to 0-09 at a critical juncture.

There are chess names in Galway's front division – Comer, Walsh, Burke – but that means the relatively unguarded Varley is one to watch.

] Neil Flynn (Kildare): Once we can not choose Daniel Flynn every week, we will congratulate Neil Flynn who, with his homonym, ripped off Fermanagh's defense in qualifying round 4. While neither Paul Cribbin nor Tommy Moolick pulled in their advantage against Monaghan last week, Kildare needs another big game from Flynn

Weather
Sunday will be a rather dry day with just a few scattered lights rain or drizzle at times. The maximum temperatures will be between 20 and 20 years. For more go to met.ie.