Football is a different planet now. That day forced Tyrone to change, then Tyrone changed the world. Since Apocalypse Then, Tyrone have won 11 games in Croke Park.

Galway have won none. Last August they went up there and were, as Kevin Walsh puts it, ?handed two goals like we were never handed before" and still Cork won. Because of the team's success in the O'Mahony era, Galway were served a dispensation by their public and the media which Tyrone were never afforded in '02. Ford knew though that Galway's capitulation against Cork had been as drastic as Tyrone's against Sligo.

In '02 it had been Eamonn O'Hara who was allowed to power through the centre. In '05 it was Anthony Lynch.

After '02 Mickey Harte swore no player would be allowed to do that again against a team of his in Croke Park. It is now obvious that last autumn so did Peter Ford. Nearly four years on from masterminding Sligo's finest hour, he is gearing another team towards beating Tyrone. And this time, in Tyrone's image.

There is a danger these days in possibly overstating Tyrone's defensive tendencies. In their last four games last summer, the least they held an opponent to was 1-13.

The All Ireland was won at the other end of the field.

Tyrone get men behind the ball not so much to create a blanket defence as to initiate a blanket offence. It was that point John Morrison was trying to allude to during the week and Mickey Harte likewise when imploring us after Omagh to look at Tyrone's record.

Like Brazil, like the team Morrison wants Mayo to be, Tyrone's philosophy is, as Morrison might say, ?we'll score a lot, the other teams will score a lot too but they'll not score more than us"; too many of us have failed to see the 2003 All Ireland semi-final as the exception, rather than the rule, in Tyrone's book.

That said, there is a defensive readiness about Tyrone.

They do get men behind the ball. Every player, especially every forward, has to possess a high work rate. They crowd out midfield, they tackle in packs, as unsightly as that can be. And sometimes a high work rate translates into a high foul rate, and physicality into cynicism. This year Galway are prepared to do likewise. In 2003 Tyrone targeted Seamus Moynihan. Last Sunday Galway similarly zoned in on Peadar Gardiner. Some of the tackling on Gardiner, as like that on Moynihan, was exemplary, in particular Diarmuid Blake's shoulder-toshoulder tackle. Other challenges on the Crossmolina man were downright cynical.

Michael Donnellan blatantly body-checked him, but so high is football's tolerance for such things, he received only a tick. In last week's Mayo News, there was a picture of Donnellan hanging onto David Heaney. Another time, when Trevor Howley went for a return pass, he was met by a Padraic Joyce elbow into the chest. It was sad seeing artists like Donnellan and Joyce resort to that.

During the week Morrison highlighted the sporting nature of O'Mahony's teams that made Galway possibly the most popular All Ireland champions of the past decade, a reputation Donnellan and Joyce were instrumental in creating. But then Peter Canavan's last act in his last two All Ireland finals was to jump on the back of an opponent. Canavan still got his All Ireland medals.

Now Donnellan and Joyce want some more, even if it sometimes means beauty playing like the beast. All credit to Ford for challenging Morrison during the week (weren't Morrison and Moran over Derry against Tyrone in '03? ) and not acting as if everyone's friends off the field. But credit to Morrison too for not pretending that everyone's friends on it either.

Ford's rebuttal of Morrison wasn't all that was impressive about his media performances last week. He rightly made a point of praising his backs.

The most valid point Tommy Lyons has made on Sunday Sport this spring is that the league really only kicks off in round four. Since then not only have Galway won five consecutive games but they've gone from conceding 1-12 a game . . .

the worst in Division One . . . to conceding less than nine points per game, the best in Division One.

In Blake, they've finally found a centre back. While that defence seems top-heavy with players from one club . . .

four of today's back sextet come from Corofin . . . Galway should, with the imminent return of Finian Hanley and Richie Fahey, along with Ford's coaching prowess, soon have one of the country's most formidable defences.

They already have probably the most lethal attack. The old Derek Savage is back, the old Donnellan too. Though Sean Armstrong wasted good possession last week, he's averaging two points a game since winning his club All Ireland. Michael Meehan is averaging 1-2 from play for the year. There are signs Matthew Clancy could still turn out to be the footballer he promised to be in 2001. Even if he doesn't, Ford has the option of moving Paul Clancy to that wing, what with Joe Bergin and Barry Cullinane soon to return to midfield, All Ireland under21 medals rattling in their pockets.

That's the thing we forget.

Everyone talks about Tyrone's underage record. Galway have won two under-21 All Irelands since Tyrone last won one.

Harte's eyes have long seen the coming of Galway, though.

His last game as Tyrone under-21 manager was to see his team well beaten by Dublin. Galway steamrolled that Dublin side in the All Ireland final.

In Feburary 2004 at a football seminar in Portlaoise, Harte was asked who would be the biggest threat to Tyrone's throne. Harte declared it would be Galway.

Harte was wrong in his timing but could yet be right in his hunch. Their older players are still young enough, their younger players, now old enough.

They also have the manager. Ask anyone in the Galway set-up what's the big difference this year and they'll say Ford. Last year he possibly delegated too much. This year he's more hands-on. His fingerprints are all over this team. Even if, in places, so are Harte's.