The football played by a Galway team featuring Walsh back then is a distant relation to that which the county side operates now, but the manager’s old team-mate Seán Óg de Paor wouldn’t sacrifice anything for what Walsh has achieved.

Twelve matches unbeaten in the league, with only Dublin, Monaghan and Tipperary having scalped them in the Championship since July 2016, de Paor commends Walsh for how he has made Galway part of the game’s vanguard.

“Results are the number one, the most important thing. If we went down the road of trying to entertain we might lose a few more games than we have been doing. Consistency has been a big mantra of Kevin’s and you have to say he has got them playing consistent.

Even the last day against Cavan, they weren’t playing well in the first half but there were no panic buttons pressed. They stuck to the game-plan.

"For a while in the second half, there were four players off the pitch with black cards, three from Cavan and one from Galway, and there was way more space and that was right up Shane Walsh’s and Johnny Heaney’s street. They ate it up.

“So Galway were a bit easier on the eye in the second half. Apart from the second half against Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final, they have been solid defensively. People probably would like to see the handbrake being taken off a little but not at the expense of them reneging on their defensive duties. There are very few teams apart from Dublin who attack as much as Galway.”

Galway return to Croke Park this evening where they fell away cheaply against the same opposition in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.

Some have put the disappointing 54,716 crowd that watched that game down to Galway’s brand of football but not de Paor.

“I would say it was down to economics. Saturation as well with those extra Super 8 games. I wouldn’t say it was down to how Galway were playing the game.

"Maybe Dublin supporters felt they were going to win and they were saving their money for the final but from a Galway point of view there was no word on the ground the week of the game that people were going to stay away because of the team’s style. ”

Two-time All-Star de Paor can’t say enough about the Sweeney twins, Cathal and Patrick, who are unavailable this year. He reckons there will be an occasion or two when they will be missed but then he considers what extra options Walsh has available to him.

“Liam Silke, I heard, was man of the match for UCD during the week and he’s a very good player. Cillian McDaid, I’m very excited about him.

“From his U21 days, he’s shown he’s a modern footballer who is able to break at speed. He probably has to work on his ball skills because he’s naturally lost a bit of touch since he came back from Australia but he’s a real prospect.

“The young lad from Headford, Pádraig Cunningham, scored two points last Sunday and he could be somebody for Galway. Then you have Kieran Molloy and Dylan Wall with Corofin and they could make an impression this year.

“What all those guys have is pace and they have shown they can score too. Breaking with pace is vital in the game now and they could be real additions. Then you have Seán Kelly, Johnny Heaney and Seán Andy (Ó Ceallaigh) who’ll be more world-wise after a season under their belts.”

De Paor heard how Monaghan took on Dublin by using the offensive mark and the threat of it and he knows it suits Damien Comer but he wonders how much Galway have worked on it.

“There was barely one or two marks in the Galway-Cavan game and it seems some teams are afraid to invest too much into it because after the league it’s gone. It’s a case of ‘why should we waste our time?’.”