Galway’s first Division One tie in seven years sees a tough test against Tyrone
IT’S still only January, but come this weekend, the cut and thrust of National League football is upon us as Galway mark their return to Division One with a Tuam Stadium showdown (2.30pm) against All-Ireland semi-finalists Tyrone.
With the new fixtures plan clicking into place this year, the seven-round National League schedule is compressed into a two-month period between January 28 and March 25 – there really is little time to catch a second breath between the fixtures.
Galway are making a return to the top flight after a seven-year exile – they were relegated from Division One in 2011 – and it is the place that Kevin Walsh and his charges want to be as they test themselves in the run-up to the 2018 All-Ireland series.
For a variety of reasons, Galway’s build-up to the start of the National League hasn’t been ideal. Two weekends were lost due to weather – the first Mayo fixture in Castlebar and last Sunday’s tie with Roscommon scheduled for Tuam.
Galway have also been hit with injury problems as Gary O’Donnell, Danny Cummins, Fiontán Ó Curraoin and Michael Daly all had pre-season surgery for leg problems while Seán Armstrong underwent a back rehabilitative programme over the past eight weeks.
Finian Hanley, Michael Meehan and Gary Sice have, over the Winter, called time on their inter-county careers while Walsh will probably also has had to plan without the services of the Corofin players, pushing for places on the starting fifteen.
It is understood that the Galway management were quite keen to have the Corofin players involved in part of the inter-county pre-Christmas training and preparation programme, but when push came to shove, this didn’t happen.
The Connacht club champions seem likely to have six players on the Galway panel at the culmination of the All-Ireland club series for them: Bernard Power, Liam Silke, Ronan Steede, Michael Farragher, Ian Burke and Micheál Lundy. Only two of that sextet – Silke and Power – have been involved so far in any of the inter-county training sessions before Christmas.
Into the bargain, Galway – like most other counties – also have to contend with players involved in mid-week Sigerson Cup action, so a finalised team selection will have to wait until those third-level games are out of the way.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.