Connor Gleeson has only conceded one goal in nine championship matches en route to this afternoon's All-Ireland football final, but Armagh will still believe they can target Galway's last line of defence.
Aside from their four meetings with Armagh, Galway have conceded just five goals in their last 18 championship matches stretching back to the start of the 2022 campaign, with Gleeson in excellent form this season in particular.
Nevertheless with him as number one the two counties have faced each other on four occasions over the past three years, with Armagh scoring a remarkable 5-03 off long balls in and around his square and short kickout interceptions.
Without the concession of those scores, Galway would have won three of the games comfortably and drawn the other rather than losing it.
Instead they lost in last year's championship, drew earlier this year, won their league encounter in 2023 and the 2022 quarter-final between the sides finished level after normal time.
So far this year Gleeson has had to deal with 18 dropped shots or long passes landing in his zone. He's fisted one away with conviction, palmed another over the bar, and claimed the other 16 confidently.
Demonstrating the improvements the former League of Ireland soccer goalkeeper has made under the high ball, and likewise the Galway defenders tasked with protecting him.
Nevertheless, as Galway will take confidence from Gleeson's impressive overall statistics, the Orchard County will take encouragement from the recent experience of their own head to head battles against the Tribesmen.
In the 2022 quarter-final three goals and a point came off long balls sent into Galway's last line of defence.
Rian O'Neill hung one up from 50 metres, with the Galway players underneath allowing the ball to bounce and with Gleeson failing to come out and deal with the follow up, Rory Grugan fisted in one of three goals.
Conor Turbitt contested another long delivery which broke Armagh's way and was kicked over the bar from close range. Another goal came after back-to-back long balls with the latter again only tamely fisted away by the Galway goalkeeper who was surrounded on his line. The ball was subsequently fisted into the net.
O'Neill gathered another long ball for the third goal, looping a handpass across goal which was won by Gleeson but falling to the ground his handpass went to Turbitt who pulled on the ball to the net.
The teams met again in the 2023 league with an Ethan Rafferty effort from well beyond the 45m line finding a way past all the bodies in the square and into the back of the net. In last year's championship clash between the two, another similar dropping effort was this time fisted narrowly over the bar by Andrew Murnin.
Armagh have strong options in the air, particularly in O'Neill, Murnin and Turbitt, and the many who argue they should go direct more often will point to the 4-02 they've scored in those three games through the most basic tactic in Gaelic football.
In their meeting earlier this year however, Armagh ended Galway's run of eight consecutive championship clean sheets with a goal from a kickout interception rather than a long ball.
In the second half, Armagh's press cut out two short kickouts, and punished Galway for 1-01.
A Tiernan Kelly goal came from a Turbitt interception before the same man intercepted another and pointed himself. Despite the pressure, Galway retained their other eight short restarts, but those two proved decisive.
They were two of just four short kickouts Gleeson has failed to find his target for this championship. He's been accurate 95% of the time and with 84% of his overall kickouts. Opting to go long 55% of the time, with possession being retained for an impressive 72% of those.
The only two teams to break his short kickout have been Armagh and Mayo, two of the top pressing teams in recent years.
Gleeson's long kickout is one of his biggest attributes and when teams do press him and limit his options it's usually his preferred exit route, with the opposition at times having less players remaining in the middle third to contest breaks. Galway fans in Croke Park this afternoon will be much more confident in him taking this approach on the occasions when Armagh commit numbers to their press.
Mayo turned Gleeson's short restart over on two occasions but failed to score from either of their raids, a lack of clinical edge being a symptom of their general play throughout the year.
Mayo also managed to dispossess him in possession out the field - after a short kickout made its way back to source - which led to a point. While another run out the field after a short restart led to Galway losing the ball and Ryan O'Donoghue almost lobbing him.
Along with that one direct dispossession, Dublin also forced him into taking the ball out of play for a converted 45 after he claimed a high ball.
Against Donegal, Gleeson also came out with assurance to claim a late looping handpass across the goal, but his own pass away was cutout and Galway were fortunate a scoring chance never materialised.
In that game, as in the majority of Galway's matches, Gleeson and the defence in front of him denied the opposition even an attempt at goal.
Padraic Joyce's last line of defence has only allowed five goal chances in the 2024 championship, with one hitting the crossbar against Monaghan, one hitting the net against Armagh and one being blocked by Sean Mulkerrin against Dublin.
Gleeson made a solid save against Derry and also held the attempted lob against Mayo.
So as they scan for cracks, Armagh will look to set traps for Galway's short kickout and also when Gleeson is in possession out the field.
The obvious out for the Connacht champions is to keep it simple and go long as he did against Donegal. Up against a midfield unit who had dominated in the Ulster championship, Paul Conroy, John Maher, Cein D'Arcy, Cillian McDaid and Matthew Tierney won the battle in the skies, claiming all but one of their own long kickouts.
Armagh will also be planning to land some high ball deep into the Galway full-back line, banking on some chaos ensuing. Gleeson will need to deal with them as he has all summer. His two points against Mayo in the Connacht final were a sign of his growing confidence and maturity and that seems to have carried across all of his play.
The Dunmore MacHales clubman has now played 22 championship games, conceding just 10 goals in that time and none at all for 16 of them.
The 31-year-old's championship stats vary drastically then, when comparing his games against Armagh to those against the rest. Yet a ninth clean sheet this afternoon will go a long way to having the last laugh on the biggest day of all.
Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final, Armagh v Galway, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
