The temperature is about to rise, the fever is upon us, the debates and discussions, the passion and the rivalry, the pros and cons�.if only he had passed to the man on his left�..the goalkeeper should have come out earlier�.shure he knows as much about football as a pig knows about a holiday�..the tears and the cheers�.the pride of the parish. What better way to get the GAA season off to a start than Galway versus Mayo, and it is in the stadium on Sunday.

So we thought to show you some of the heroes (Galway ones that is !) of yesteryear. Our photograph today shows the parade in Croke Park before the All-Ireland final of 1940 between Galway and Kerry. The team nearest us are Galway, and they are lead by their captain, John Dunne, followed by Jackie Flavin with his son Sean who was the mascot, Ned Mulholland, Frank Cunniffe, Mick Connaire, Jimmy McGauran, Joe Duggan, John Burke, Brendan Nestor, Charlie Connolly, Jarlath Canavan, Mick Higgins, Mick Raftery, Dinny O'Sullivan and Bobby Beggs.

The Kerry players we see are, from the right, Tadg Healy, Bill Myers, Sean Brosnan, Jimmy Gorman, Dan O'Keeffe, Paddy Kennedy, Bill Dillon and Bill Casey.

The final score was Kerry 0 - 7, Galway 1 - 3. For the record, Galway lined out as follows�in goals, Jimmy McGauran ; The full back line was (2) Mick Raftery, (3) Mick Connaire , (4) Dinny O'Sullivan. In the half backs were (5) Frank Cunniffe, (6) Bobby Beggs, (7) Charlie Connolly. John Dunne and Joe Duggan were centrefield.

In the half forward line were Jackie Flavin (10),John Burke (11) and Jarlath Canavan (12), and Mick Higgins (13), Ned Mulholland(14) and Brendan Nestor (15) were the full forward line.The subs were J. Casey, P McDonagh, P. Mitchell, C. McGovern & J. O'Connor.

In 1938, Galway drew with Kerry in the final 3 - 3 to 2 - 6, and went on to beat them in the replay by 2 - 4 to 0 - 7. In 1941, Kerry beat Galway by 1 - 8 to 0 -7 in the final, and in 1942, Galway had their revenge in the semi-final by 1 - 3 to 0 - 3.

Our thanks to Michael O'Donohue for this photograph.

Two requests now. John Joseph Lee had a pub in William Street West from c.1913 - 1925. Does anyone know where exactly it was ? John was from Aille in Spiddal, and two of his brothers Padraig & Edward were among 9 men killed on the shore of Lochan Beag in Spiddal on this day ninety years ago. They were killed by an exploding World War 1 mine, and all were buried in 2 coffins somewhere in the new cemetery in Bohermore. Does anyone know where ?

Please forward any queries/comments to oldgalway@kennys.ie