Galway on guard
ANY notions of having a cushy first home match in the National Football League for Galway have been well truly dispensed with, in the wake of Donegal’s demolition of Laois last weekend – Alan Mulholland’s charges face a really tough assignment in Pearse Stadium on Sunday (2pm) as they seek their first points of the campaign.
Donegal – the All-Ireland champions of 2012 – march south on Sunday with a strong army to call upon and already manager Jim McGuinness has made his intentions quite clear about this year’s league.
Last year, Donegal sauntered through the league with a certain level of disinterest following their All-Ireland success – relegation ensued, and now they are on full throttle in their bid to make a quick return to Division 1.
Galway did shine brightly for a time last Sunday against Meath and looked very lively on the counter attack, but when the dust settled, Michael O’Dowd’s side had clocked up a 3-18 scoreline and won the match quite decisively in the end.
There is some good news on the injury front for Galway with Danny Cummins recovered from a groin strain while Gareth Bradshaw is also back in training after an ankle problem.
Fiontán Ó Curraoin – who had to retire against Meath at half-time with a groin strain – is however a doubtful starter for Sunday but a decision on his fitness won’t be made until later in the week.
Galway will be hoping to run something of a tighter ship defensively against Donegal but the northern side did notch up a huge 2-19 total again Laois and with the likes of Colm McFadden and Michael Murphy in their full forward line, they do possess serious firepower.
Manager Alan Mulholland said that Donegal represented a huge challenge for his side on Sunday, but again it was a case of his side ‘testing their mettle’ against a top class side.
“Donegal, like Meath, are a very good side and they have obviously come into this league with a lot of work done and they have their sights set on promotion.
“We did put up a big score ourselves last Sunday, and that was good, but we’ll be trying to tighten up things against Donegal and it’s a match that the lads are really looking forward to,” Alan Mulholland told Tribune Sport.
The Galway team was due to be announced after last night’s training session (Thursday), but apart from injury concerns there are unlikely to be too many changes from the side that lined out at Navan last Sunday.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.