He's the thorn in your side. The wasp you can't swat. And his stats are getting better all the time - 0-2 against Roscommon, 0-3 against Derry.

"Heeey," says Derek Savage. "This has only come up in the past few weeks - I'm not the guy we depend on to get scores. We have Ja Fallon, Pβdraig Joyce, Michael Donnellan, guys like these, to get our scores.

"I just do the same job I have been doing for years. You get a few scores and suddenly people start wondering if there is pressure on you to deliver the scores. It's not that way. I just keep doing the same job."

Which is basically about torment. People like Ollie Murphy may demoralise opponents once they get possession but at least they allow them a moment's rest now and again.

Not Savage.

His game is about constant menace and movement, making things happen, creating fatal holes from a millimetre of space. Savage is the definition of energy.

In GAA parlance, Savage "causes problems". Against Derry, in the All-Ireland semi-final, he was at his most lethal, exploding along the Canal End byline before freeing Matthew Clancy for the goal that turned the match around.

"The way I look at those things is when a goal is the result, it is seen as a great piece of work. When there is no score, little is ever said. Matthew had a lot to do when he got that ball and I think the tide had turned anyway, we were motoring in the right direction. It just finished Derry off."

Savage's summer has been a metaphor for that of his team. In the early rounds, he was literally a spectator, injured on the sideline and as effective as the rest of Galway when Roscommon stripped them on June 3rd. His rehabilitation was gradual and his return coincided with the realisation that Galway were the slow-burners of the championship, fighting out wins against Derry and Cork.

"I needn't spell out the way we were after the Roscommon game. Our dressing room was not a nice place to be."

Talk about last year is inevitable. Those last frantic minutes in the drawn game when Galway had the ball, the championship in their hands: any regrets? "Ahhhhh, no," says Savage with finality.

His performances left him with an All-Star, but the legacy of the subsequent defeat bothered him for a while.

"I suppose until the championship started again. This is the first time we have a fully fit panel since the final of 1998, which is a terrific thing for us - it may never happen again. So we are delighted to be back here."

Against a team who adhere to a totally different philosophy. The only common ground is they are both vying for recognition as the team of recent seasons. And, after the ransacking of Kerry lore, Meath will be favourites.

"I never really adhered to the theory that Kerry let their heads drop that day. Things just conspired against them. And I would certainly like to think we wouldn't let our heads drop. I think good teams simply don't give up.

"A lot of games this year have had big swings in them. With the Derry match, we had chances even when they were supposedly on top. We missed but didn't give up and eventually we clicked. If we can up the work-rate from the start and not fall behind, then it will be all to play for."

In the remarkable O'Mahony era, this Galway side have learned about winning and losing All-Ireland finals. Savage has been there for all of them, the maroon blur in the corner.

"I some ways, our relationship with John O'Mahony has evolved and stayed the same. As a person, a friend, things have changed. But as a manager, things are the same. And we know what it is that motivates us now."